In a conversation sponsored by Fast Company, FTC assistant director Richard Cleland clarified that bloggers won’t be fined $11,000 for a first offense. It’s more likely to take multiple infractions and a refusal to comply with prior warnings before the FTC levies any financial penalties on bloggers who fail to disclose that they have received cash or payment in kind from an advertiser.
As I’d surmised in my earlier post, the FTC’s real objective is to galvanize the blogging community to step up to a code of ethics that protects consumers from intentional or unintentional bias caused by conflict of interest. The FTC wants consumers to know when a blog or a specific post has been sponsored by an advertiser so they have that context for interpreting the blogger’s comments. As the FTC’s Richard Cleland says,
It’s not the medium, it’s the message. We want to establish a self-imposed ethical standard so people are aware of the conflicts of interest. That’s the base, and we’re saying: This is commerce. That’s acceptable, but when that happens, the reader should know that there’s this potential bias. Actually, these rules have applied to consumer endorsers since they were issued in 1980. I don’t think the concept of ‘disclose what I’m being paid’ is a radical concept that is going to be foreign to people.
The FTC suggests the bloggers ensure their disclosure notices are clear, obvious and unambiguous.
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Rachel Maddow talked about exactly that a few days ago, in her segment “Confronting Rick Berman,” about a suspicious link between many grass roots campaings funded by non-profits headed by the president of a public relations firm. They both did a great job in the interview that followed, equally exemplifying how to try and steer a conversation.
Yes, because so many traditional PR people have seen their role as “getting ink” or influencing perceptions, providing free products or tickets to events (or the sky box at a big game) has been a not-so-unusual tactic. When you look at it from the advertiser or the brand’s perspective, these tactics have proven to be effective. When you look at it from the consumer’s POV, the lack of disclosure about potential sources of bias makes it even more difficult for consumers to discern fact from fiction, legitimate product claims from fantasy.
I think adopting the FTC guidelines will be good for the marketplace, even if it throws a monkey wrench into the typical marketing promotion engine. This could have the result of accelerating the shift toward true conversational marketing.