According to the FTC, the latest ruling states that endorsements and paid posts need to be clearly displayed. Otherwise you will get a hefty $11,000 fine. The rules,under  FTC’s Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, are the first amendment to the guidelines the FTC has performed since 1980.

Here are what the new rules say:

1. A blogger needs to disclose “material connections” between  a product and his/ her post. This means that if a blogger has received a payment for the post, ‘fess up. Or lose $11,000.

2. If you are a celebrity endorser, you too are liable for this fine.

3. A paid endorsement is deceptive if it makes false claims.

4. All “in-kind” payments need to be disclosed.

Well, I’m no genius, but I do think that these rules do provide more transparency to the world of blogging. I would never take cash for a post (but there are bloggers that do…and most that I know dutifully report the posts as being “sponsored” in some way). Think Daily Candy and JuliB, for example (although these are not strictly “blogs,” they might as well be for this purpose).

I do think that this ruling (although it comes as no shock to me) should also be aimed at newspapers and magazines. I’ve known several reporters at the New York Post (to name one example) who have gladly accepted a free trip or lavish dinner only to promise to write about it. Say what?

I’m glad the FTC is cleaning up the cobwebs but just taking a silly swipe at the blogging population is not going to remove the kinky “grease-my-palm” attitude that’s going on in most media.

My aim is to be true and objective: just write positive reviews on products that really do work. I’ve never elicited product or written about anything I don’t believe in, and that’s more than can be said for some other media whose work lives in the shadow of their advertisers.

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