Have You Heard of the FTC? You Absolutely Need To Read This Now!
Yes, that title was a little long, but I wanted to make sure I had your attention. As most of you may be aware ( or should be, at least ) yesterday new FTC laws came into effect concerning the employment of testimonials and endorsements in advertising. Plenty of the new laws directly affect internet-based marketers, so I decided to go direct to the source to see precisely what this would imply for me ( and for you, my readers ).
I went to http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/endortest.shtm and actually read through the whole 12 page guide especially the Fed. Trade Commission 16 CFR Part 255 Guides Concerning the utilization of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Here are the highlights as they pertain to us online marketers :
first there’s the problem of endorsements. The FTC specifically states that endorsements must reflect the honest opinions, observations, beliefs, or experience of the endorser. This part may sound pretty simple, but how they outline that ‘honesty’ has some gigantic implications about how you can write your sales copy or other advertising or promotion pieces.
The big term that the FTC is using is substantiation of representations conveyed. What this suggests is that you’ve got to be able to prove ( and back up ) any claims you make. Which I’ve always told you to do, but what’s modified is what they consider evidence. While I’ve always used real examples for my proof, I ( and everybody else ) would naturally pick the best results out of the bunch to focus on. Itis a natural thing to do.
But now, no longer are you able to say, about a weight loss product, for instance, Lose 20 pounds in 2 weeks! simply because one of your clients did. Now, any claims you make have to be representative of the average experience of the user, not the phenomenal ones. And you can’t just cover your butt with a results not everyday disclaimer, either the FTC has deemed that disclaimers did not adequately scale back the communication that the experiences outlined are generally representative. In English, that suggests that even if you assert that results arenot typical in details, it does not change the incontrovertible fact that you’re giving the impression in the big giant title that everybody could lose 20 pounds in two weeks.
Keep reading the rest about New FTC Regulations…
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