The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) just frightened the hell out of mommy bloggers and product bloggers everywhere by creating rules that bloggers who fail to disclose they were given freebies to write about a product can now be fined up to $11,000 per post.
These new guidelines, FTC Guide Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising says that bloggers who receive “cash or in-kind payment to review a product” must disclose the fact of this payment on their blog.
When I receive a free product or service or overnight stay for my blogging or travel writing, I usually just handle it with a quick, “I received a free _____ courtesy of the fine folks at ________,” I think bloggers need to create a new official statement that sits at the bottom of every blog post, sort of like a photographer’s credit or stringer’s byline at the bottom of a news article.
Because the Federal Trade Commission sucks, the product or service I wrote about in this post was given to me free by the manufacturer/distributor.
