FTC Checks Up On Ann Taylor

Natalie Zmuda over at says the Ann Taylor investigation shows that the FTC is keeping close eye on blogging:

The FTC informed Ann Taylor that, following an investigation, it has decided not to take action against the women’s retailer over an event held earlier this year. The retailer had invited bloggers to preview the Loft division’s summer 2010 collection, offering a “special gift,” and promising that those posting coverage from the event would be entered into a “mystery gift-card drawing,” where they could win between $50 and $500.

The invite explained that bloggers must submit posts to the company within 24 hours in order to find out the value of their gift card.

The event and the unusual request for posts to be submitted for a prize received media scrutiny and caught the eye of the FTC. “We were concerned that bloggers who attended a preview on January 26, 2010 failed to disclose that they received gifts for posting blog content about that event,” Mary Engle, the FTC’s associate director-advertising practices, wrote in a letter dated April 20 to Ann Taylor’s legal representation.

This only goes to show that pay-for-post is going to get a lot harder (if not impossible) and that the way to the future is via earned media. Social media press releases and contacts with bloggers in a given demographic who will write about you and your company simply because you are doing something amazing and they are journalists is where the future of blogger relations really is.

Danny Flamberg seems to be right in line with what I’m saying. He says in Ann Taylor Tries to Buy Off Bloggers:

Somebody probably thought that for a few bucks they might ignite a lot of attention because if they could get some action and attention on blogs, mainstream writers, who generally monitor blogs in their vertical coverage areas, might pile on. And eventually a PR snowball would build into serious coverage and some virility. I can visualize the pitch session, can’t you?

Instead it didn’t really work, the campaign invited unwanted scrutiny from the FTC and the whole affair sullied the brand. Ann Taylor ducked the enforcement bullet because it was their first offense and because the only got a couple of stories and some of the bloggers actually disclosed the gifts.

Shame on them. Ann Taylor has a legitimate story and should tell it in a legitimate way. Buying bloggers is bullshit and AT customers deserve better. [Full disclosure : I’m an AT loyalist . I led the team that launched their first e-commerce site in 1999.]

So companies, watch your step with pay-for-post and make sure you check all the bloggers to see that they are fully disclosing any pay, bonuses, or gifts you send them.

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Tagged as: Advertising, AnnTaylor, blog, Company, Federal Trade Commission, FTC, Mary Engle, Mass media