ATTENTION BLOGGERS - New FTC Guidelines for Free Product Disclosure

Looks complicated at first...but she breaks it down nicely for bloggers:

"For receipt of products for review:

1) Place your disclosures early in your post, above the fold if possible, and before any outbound links, especially if the links are to a page associated with the products.
2) Place it as close to the endorsement of the product as possible.
3) Repeat your disclosure at the end if the post is long or if you continually repeat an endorsement. For good measure, I will likely start placing the disclosure in text near the start and also always repeat it at the end."

As a consumer, I find it VERY helpful to know whether a review is sponsored or not. I wish Eden put the disclosure for reviews at the beginning of the review in addition to putting it at the end.

Does this mean we have to go back over all our old blog posts which feature free products we reviewed, or can we leave them as is and just start doing our reviews differently from now on?

arrghhh....there is stuff in there that seems as if it also affects sponsored posts and affiliate links.

here is a link to article on the ftc website. it includes a link to a pdf "how to make effective disclosures in digital advertising. it's 53 pages, lmao

It's pretty rediculous, but some other review sites I work on require the same quidelines.

Thanks for the heads up!

Stuff like this makes me eternally glad that I'm not an American.

Thanks for the info.

sheesh. Our poor bloggers have been getting picked on so much in the past few years.

Does this also apply to onsite Eden Reviews? I'm assuming so.

Thank you for letting us know.

Oh goody...

Thanks for sharing this info, Stormy. What a damn pain. The FTC must be in cahoots with the IRS to beef up their forms to ensure they are too long and completely confusing.

Thanks for posting this. What is a shame is that there is no easy way to find this on the FTC's web site. Seems like a news release or brief guide would have been in order, given how many people this affects.

when i do an internet search on the subject, everything i'm finding is from the changes back in 2009. arrghh. anybody find anything about the latest one besides the ones already mentioned on this thread?

care to discuss? i started a thread under the eden bloggers forum

*sarcastic disclosure: the above link is not an affiliate link because I am too confused and leery about the changes...had it been an affiliate link perhaps i should of placed this at the very beginning of my comment saying it was an affiliate link and then explaining what an affiliate link is

*edit, the thread was removed by ef, i am awaiting response as to why

my original thread was removed, now it's here

and the link to the FTC announcement from 03/12/13 is here