Federal Trade Commission's plan to change rules on ad endorsements, testimonials worries marketers

[WhiteTara]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-tc-biz-fri-pitches-ftc-0320-mar20,0,7694262.story?track=rss
snip

The Federal Trade Commission is reviewing new guidelines to product endorsements. They include:

•Consumer testimonials would have to be substantiated and ads would have to include generally expected results. Endorsers, not just advertisers, could be held liable for deceptive claims. "You'd have to say not only is it extreme, but how extreme is it," the FTC's Richard Cleland said.

•Celebrities who talk up a product in an interview must disclose if they are getting paid for the promotion. Celebrities who endorse products would have to disclose if they have an ownership interest.

•Expert endorsers, like doctors, must have experience in the product area they are endorsing. If they don't, the limits of their expertise must be stated. For instance, an ophthalmologist identified only as a doctor could not be portrayed as an expert physician endorsing a hearing aid.

•Bloggers who get free products and then endorse them on their blogs would have to make it clear they got the products free.

read full article at link. every day I feel a little better. If all this keeps up, I may give up my meds!


The changes are sending shudders through companies that worry about their ability to motivate consumers to buy their products if they can't sell the sizzle.

[napi21]

1. That's great news! I don't know about the blogger part. Just who

or what they consider a blogger? But given the benefit of the other rules, I'll deal with the blogger one too.

[Donnachaidh]

2. it took them a DECADE to do something about this?

from the article:

"For a good part of the last decade, we have noticed a problem, particularly with consumer testimonials," said Richard Cleland, assistant director of the FTC's division of advertising practices. "The use of consumer testimonials had become almost a safe harbor for companies as long as they threw in some sort of disclaimer about results not being typical."

I hope they are going to apply this to the drug ads as well. I'm sick to death of seeing the happy couple walking by the lake, while the narrator voice lists off CANCER and DEATH as a possible side effect to the drug they are making look so remarkable to take.

[PSPS]

3. HAHA. So much for all those phony "I buy gold, you should too" ads.