If you are a blogger it is important that you understand the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rules on full disclosure. An infraction of these rules could cost you and cost you big!

What Is Full Disclosure?

If you blog sooner or later a company is probably going to ask you to review an item. They send you the item, you use it, you let your readers know that you tried a cool product and tell them about your experience. After all the best advertising is word of mouth and this is simple, easy, and effective.

Except....

The FTC is concerned that readers may not understand that the blogger has been given the item for review. The concern is that the blogger may have a biased opinion and lie, or at least stretch the truth about the product.

So, beginning December 1, 2009 if you review a product you must give the details about your contact with the company. In other words, if they paid you to write the post you must have a statement that says, “Post paid for by Acme Electronics”. If you are given an item to review you must let your readers know that it was given to you by the manufacturer. The sentence could be as simple as, “Acme LuXury Autos sent me a Rolls Royce to review and then allowed me to keep it.”

The new regulations don't say how the blogger must word the disclosure but only the the disclosure must be conspicuous and easy to see by the average reader.

It is unlikely that this will affect most bloggers much at all. The FTC would be more likely to go after a company than a single blogger.

Most bloggers have a full disclosure policy anyway. If they have received and item for review they will probably say something to that effect. The problem seems to lie with the many Pay for Post companies that allow an advertiser to pay a blogger a fee for writing about their product. Often times there is no disclosure that the post has been paid for.

As a general rule if you get something for review you should tell your readers that you were sent it for review and let them know if you are keeping it. Just being ethical and up front with readers will keep most bloggers out of trouble. In fact, most bloggers are doing this anyway.

So why are many bloggers upset over this issue?

Well, for one, this type of advertising exists on many levels with out the disclosure being required. Consider the actors and celebrities who lend their names and reputations to everything from dentures to yogurt. None of them are required to disclose the amount of pay that they receive for this nor are they asked if they use the product. It would seem that the FTC has a double standard in this case.

The other concern may be that government is turning into Big Brother. Everything is regulated, licensed, or taxed. The government machine keeps getting bigger and bigger, hungrier and hungrier as it eats away at the freedoms so many Americans have shed blood over. At what point does government stop being a babysitter? At what point do Americans decide to stop being victims and begin taking responsibility for their own choices and actions?

At what point will regulation stop? That is the real problem.

It really isn't that difficult to comply with the new regulations. Just be upfront and honest with your readers and let them know that you have received product as part of the review. Pay-to-Posts are at best questionable and it is just better to stay away from them if at all possible. If you do choose to write posts that advertisers will be paying for be sure to have a sentence at the end of your post that states that the post was paid for by the company.

As in all things it is always best to err on the side of ethics and honesty. If in doubt go ahead and disclose everything. There is trust that is built between a blogger and a reader and honesty and ethical writing should always be a part of that, whether or not the FTC makes a rule.