The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulates advertising and marketing in an effort to protect consumers from being misled by advertisements or claims or deceived by the omission of necessary information.
Marketing claims, offers, and promotions often require certain disclosures to be in compliance with FTC regulations. To clarify when disclosures need to be made, the Commission released its Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsement and Testimonials in Advertising in late 2009. These guides focused on emerging digital channels (social networks and blogs, in particular) being leveraged in word-of-mouth marketing campaigns and promotional programs. This directly affected blogger outreach, along with sponsored, employee, affiliate, advocate, and influencer programs run on every platform. Continue Reading
