Trouble in paradise. So here's the 'rock and a hard place' reality here. Bloggers promote products, others, companies, events etc. at a nauseating global pace...right? Bloggers usually don't make any damn money for their free promotion..right? (that's why she's laughing so hard) Bloggers should make more money than they do...right? But for those Bloggers who receive money or compensation in any way for their promotion posts, they will now have to 'fess' up or be fined a whopping $11,000.00 !!!! If you receive a free copy of the latest decorating or craft book and post a positive review of them on your personal blog without revealing that you got the books free of charge, you could be guilty of ad fraud, according to new guidelines from the Federal Trade Commission. Now if I write about Cote de Texas or Red Ticking or Dooce or Amanda Jaron or Tide or Smashbox, I have to tell you whether or not I'm getting some loot for it. Rick Calvert, chief executive of the blogger conference BlogWorld & New Media Expo, said his organization believes bloggers should disclose compensation they receive from companies they write about, including when they receive free products. (I heard about this via facebook via Holly Becker) And no, Holly isn't paying me a dime. Have your say here folks: leave a comment !!!
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3 comments:
Well it seems to me most people do mention if they are being compensated but I had no idea this was a new law, WOW! You are always in the know darling, gracias, thank God for my Liberty Post updates :)
Yea, I don't think it's a big deal. Well, for most of us in the design blogging world. I think I read that there were a lot of the mommy bloggers who were writing reviews on products, but not disclosing that they'd been sent them. But, it's easy enough to say that so and so sent me this and I like it, or I hate it. Book reviews are so common, who doesn't realize that publisher or writer sent the book. I really think this is for blogger who casually mention using a product (like a computer or something big) without mentioning that it was sent to them for free. One of my sponsors (who are listed as sponsors) asked me if they could pay me to write a post about them - I said no, but I'd write one anyway as a thank you to my sponsor kind of thing. She said she was impressed with that - most people just take the money. It was like $10...
Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting this extremely important news. I have written up my own compliance statements and posted them on all of my blogs. Although I don't accept swag or money for reviews, I am so glad to make sure no one is confused (because the govt. thinks we're all morons and don't know that media is supported by advertising, duh)...you may have saved this kitty's hide! xo
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