F.T.C. says bloggers need to do what good bloggers already do

There’s a lot of buzz about the new advertising disclosure regulations the F.T.C is putting into effect on December 1st.

Tim Arango over at The New York Times says in Soon, Bloggers Must Give Full Disclosure.

The F.T.C. said that beginning on Dec. 1, bloggers who review products must disclose any connection with advertisers, including, in most cases, the receipt of free products and whether or not they were paid in any way by advertisers, as occurs frequently. The new rules also take aim at celebrities, who will now need to disclose any ties to companies, should they promote products on a talk show or on Twitter. A second major change, which was not aimed specifically at bloggers or social media, was to eliminate the ability of advertisers to gush about results that differ from what is typical — for instance, from a weight loss supplement.

And David Gelles over at Financial Times says in Celebrities face crackdown with new rules on product endorsement

The new rules covering the use of testimonials in advertising, released by the Federal Trade Commission yesterday, say that anyone who endorses a product, whether celebrities or bloggers, must make explicit the compensation received from companies. This rule will affect everyone from film stars who receive free products in return for endorsements and bloggers.

The truth is, responsible and honest bloggers have been disclosing the fact they they’ve received free gifts or payments since the beginning. Now it’s regulated and that of course will be a bumpy ride, but certainly nothing crippling to the blogging community.

What do you think? Is F.T.C. regulation really needed? Has the F.T.C. gone too far? Not far enough?

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Tagged as: Advertising, celebrities, Celebrity, Federal Trade Commission, new york times, Testimonial, Twitter, Weight loss