The US has announced a crackdown on product endorsements. For years, we’ve all been used to seeing celebs and models hawking everything from car insurance to beauty products, but surprisingly this ruling isn’t limited to Iggy Pop or Sarah Jessica Parker – it includes bloggers too.
The new rules say that anyone endorsing a product must give full disclosure about what he or she received – if anything – in compensation for the endorsement or else face fines up to $11,000 (£6,910).
Oddly enough, an attorney for several advertising groups in the States said this ruling is the ‘worst fears of businesses come true’. That seems a bit of an overreaction to me. It won’t be a surprise to people that celebs are paid to endorse products (or even lie about them), and most bloggers I know already do disclose the terms in which they’re either endorsing or reviewing a product, i.e. So-and-so asked me to review, I wasn’t paid for this post, etc.
I’m curious to hear what other bloggers think, but my hunch is that we spend so much time trying to prove that we haven’t sold out that this ruling (should it ever make its way across the pond) won’t change very much at all.
