In October the Federal Trade Commission introduced guidelines to protect the public from deceptive endorsements and testimonials. The lowly amateur blogger is subject to these rules.
"The Commission acknowledges that bloggers may be subject to different disclosure requirements than reviewers in traditional media. In general, under usual circumstances, the Commission does not consider reviews published in traditional media to be sponsored advertising messages. [K]nowing whether the media entity that published the review paid for the item in question would not affect the weight consumers give to the reviewer’s statements….
In contrast, if a blogger’s statement on his personal blog or elsewhere (e.g., the site of an online retailer of electronic products) qualifies as an “endorsement” – i.e., as a sponsored message – due to the blogger’s relationship with the advertiser or the value of the merchandise he has received and has been asked to review by that advertiser, knowing these facts might affect the weight consumers give to his review."
Of especial concern to me are the guidelines on expert endorsements. As a literary poseur and dilettante, I often decorate my little blog entries with the wordcraft and sentiments of better writers and thereby attempt to impress the unwary with a semblance of expertise. This could land me in trouble with the FTC. Consider their guidelines for expert endorsements:
"(a) Whenever an advertisement represents, directly or by implication, that the endorser is an expert with respect to the endorsement message, then the endorser's qualifications must in fact give the endorser the expertise that he or she is represented as possessing with respect to the endorsement.
Example 1: An endorsement of a particular automobile by one described as an 'engineer' implies that the endorser's professional training and experience are such that he is well acquainted with the design and performance of automobiles. If the endorser's field is, for example, chemical engineering, the endorsement would be deceptive."
I am always expressing my likes and dislikes about things in this blog. And so, to avoid problems with the FTC and a possible $11,000 fine, I give notice that any opinions, endorsements, or testimonials recorded in this blog should be considered the inexpert thoughts of a mere "chemical engineer" and ignoramus.
