by Buffy Cranford

Created on: November 09, 2009   Last Updated: December 01, 2009

To blog, or not to blog is no longer the question. However, endorsing products on your blog could now bring repercussions directly from the Federal Trade Commission. Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are heralded as successful tools for networking and reconnecting with friends, family and professional contacts. With the rise in networking sites, personal blogs became a sounding board for personal viewpoints and in some cases, product endorsements. In turn, companies found a successful and inexpensive route to advertise goods and services. After researching blogs and Facebook pages, companies started sending free products and some writers began positively reviewing products and accepting the free products as payment.

Beginning December 1, 2009, the Federal Trade Commission requires anyone reviewing products include full disclosure. This means if the writer received free product or payment for the endorsement, the information must appear on their website alongside the review. The FTC's Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, documentation explains endorsements as any advertising messageconsumers are likely to believe reflects the opinions, beliefs, findings, or experiences of a party other than the sponsoring advertiser.

Online reviews have multiplied during this age of information, and those who write for a living often take a tough ethical stance against product endorsement. For example, magazines such as PCWorld and Smart Computing review hardware and software peripherals. In most cases, companies send the product, and it is reviewed by a testing and writing staff. Although companies may offer their product as a perk for reviewing, writers who are ethically responsible write a fair review and return the product to the manufacturer. With the FTC's enforcement of endorsements, this ethical responsibility is now in the hands of bloggers and networking sites nationwide. Consumers often trust the words of reviewers, and if the writer has received free products or perks, the review is tainted.

For bloggers nationwide, the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising document fully discloses the differences between personal and commercial blogs. Basically, if a blogger receives from a marketer with a request to review it, they are deemed an endorser of the product, and are responsible for disclosing they received the product for free or were paid for the endorsement. If that same blogger purchases a product with his or her own money and praises it on a personal blog or on an electronic message board they are not considered an endorser. In addition, under the new guidelines, the marketer is also responsible for tracking the review and confirming the reviewer reveals full disclosure. Writers for traditional media, such as Smart Computing, are not subject to the guidelines.

For those who are uncertain if their latest review of the latest video game or skin care product is an endorsement, the FTC Guides offer a full description of the new law in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, document and urges voluntary compliance with the law by advertisers and endorsers.

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