There’s nothing like poring over a heavily-footnoted article in the New York Bar Association newsletter. Several times.
What does this have to do with food writing? Glad you asked.
Food writer Rebecca Lang, whose husband is an attorney, sent me an article he gave her called, “The FTC’s Revised Endorsement Guides Impact How Companies Can Advertise Through Social Media.” It outlines endorsement guidelines for bloggers from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
I’m so glad she did, because I had not seen this interpretation on accepting goods, money, or affiliations (where you get a percentage of sales) in exchange for a post, mention or a link. It’s good timing for food bloggers who want to “monetize” their blogs, a growing concern according to a recent Foodista survey.
I wrote my original post on disclosure in 2009, but back then the rules were rather vague. Now lawyer Laura Sack has written about the updated FTC guidelines, which make sense as best practices. So if you’re a blogger who writes reviews, participates in an affiliate program, or gets paid to mention a product, here’s what it says:
1. The FTC can fine both the blogger and the company for not disclosing an arrangement where the company compensates the blogger for a review, positive mention, or sponsored post. Wouldn’t that be a bummer, to not mention your arrangement in the post and then find it costs you a new client? So not worth it.
First, let’s define an “arrangement.” According to the FTC, compensation happens when you:
- Receive a free product and review it
- Link to the product’s website and receive a commission (called an affiliate program)
- Receive money, product or services for posting about a product
- Review a product or service that comes from an advertiser on your site.
The FTC does not require you to disclose the relationship if you:
- Use a coupon for a more expensive brand of a company’s product than what you would normally buy, and blog about the product
- Review products from a swag bag at a conference.
2. The definition of “disclosure” is more specific. It’s not enough to make a general disclosure on your About page anymore. The discloser must be contained in the post itself. “So long as the disclosure clearly and conspicuously conveys to the reader the relationship between the blogger and the advertiser, the disclosure will be adequate,” states the article. That means you can write something as simple as, “Company ABC gave me this product to review” and you’re done.
And, it’s not enough to disclose the relationship just on your blog post. If you tweet about your post, or you tweet about a product for which you have been compensated, Sack suggests you add #paid ad, #paid or #ad at the end. I can’t say as I’ve seen any of those monikers yet, including during presentations at IACP from marketers who want to work with food bloggers. I have seen #spon, though.
This disclosure rule affects me as well. From now on, whenever I post about a book and include a link to Amazon, I have to disclose the relationship right there. On one hand, I think, “Doesn’t everyone know how this works?” and “Who cares if I make 26 cents if someone buys a copy?” But on the other hand, it’s best to just be transparent about it.
3. Even if you satisfy the requirements of numbers 1 and 2, you and the company could still be fined if your post contains “misleading or unsubstantiated representations.” This seems like common sense, but apparently it isn’t. Here are the main points:
- Don’t write about a product if you haven’t tried it
- If you were paid to try it and you thought it was terrible, you can’t say it was great
- You can’t make claims about a product (“It will cure cancer!”) that cannot be substantiated.
To protect yourself, work with companies that know the rules and help you follow them. Companies should require you to sign a contract that includes suggested language about disclosure. These companies should also check your blog and tweets to see if you are following the FTC guidelines. Doing so is in their best interests as well as yours.
If you’re wondering whether the FTC takes action on this issue, the answer is yes. The article cites a settlement of $250,000 by Legacy Learning, which created an affiliate program endorsed by bloggers who did not disclose that they were compensated. Anne Taylor also took some heat for issuing gift cards to bloggers and not requiring them to disclose the gifts. On the other hand, the FTC is not monitoring blogs and has no plans to do so. It also has no direct authority to fine. But if possible violations come to their attention, they will investigate. It’s best to just do the right thing to begin with.
For more on this subject, read:
- Guidelines Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising
- The FTC’s Revised Endorsement Guides: What People are Asking
- The FTC Clarifies Their Rules For Bloggers (3/2013)
What do you think of these new rules? From my standpoint, it might feel uncomfortable, but it’s important to be transparent to readers. If you’re not being clear with them, you’re creating an even bigger problem.
(As long as we’re on the subject…Disclosure: Rebecca Lang once hired me to coach her on a book proposal.)
(Photo courtesy of Digalert.)
Welcome to my blog. Whether you're an aspiring or accomplished food writer, you'll find posts and comments about blogging, recipe writing, cookbooks, craft, finding agents or publishers, writing trends, and interviews with food writing luminaries. Please join the conversation! For more about me, Dianne Jacob, see 
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Wow, thanks for sharing this. I have followed the FTC rules with posting at the bottom of every post stating if I was compensated or if I received a sample for review but I never tweeted any of that information in my tweets. I think that would be very hard considering you only have so many words. Thanks again
You’re doing the right thing, Lisa. Some of the suggested words are shorter, like #ad. But who likes the sound of that!
I am all for disclosure, of every sort. I practiced federal securities law as a lawyer for years – which all comes down to disclosure, plain and simple. You could say in your prospectus that “our product is sub-par,” but nobody could sue you under the federal securities laws as long as you disclosed it. That helps business, ultimately. It creates a level playing field.
And although having to disclose Amazon affiliate links every time you use them seems annoying, I’ll do it going forward in the name of disclosure (and because I have no choice, clearly).
I, for one, remained hopelessly naive about “sponsored trips” for bloggers for so long it is downright embarrassing. When I would see posts by bloggers about these trips, many of which seem almost divorced from the subject matter of the blogs themselves, I just wondered to myself, ‘why do you think readers want to read about your personal trip to the Bahamas?’ And the posts have such a low level of reader engagement, almost always, that I just didn’t get it (and, mostly, I still don’t). And when they’d tweet about it nonstop, I’d just “unfollow,” which I found very satisfying. Now, if they have to put a ‘sponsored’ hashtag, I will know even sooner to “unfollow.”
More guidelines are better. More specificity is better. Otherwise, you can find yourself out of compliance and get blindsided by a complaint. That’s never good!
Thanks for bringing this up, Dianne. Whether the info is new or not, I think we were due for a frank discussion about it all.
Nicole
We’ll see of those bloggers put #spon or #paid when they’re tweeting about a free trip day and night! I tend to think the odds are low. Unfollowing them might be the most satisfying response of all, Nicole.
It’s very satisfying indeed, Dianne! Highly recommend.
Interested to see if celebrity tweets will be tagged as advertisements or sponsored.
I guess I am cool with all of these rules – but how can they be enforced with the crazy amount of blog out there? also, how are the guidelines going to be taught to all bloggers so they can follow them (besides this wonderful post, of course). i’m all for free stuff but sometimes for a small-time blogger who doesn’t make much $$ off of their work, sometimes these guidlelines can hurt if we are fined w/o prior knowledge. but, as long as it’s easy to do and everyone is on the same page, i’m fine w/ it. if someone gives me a free trip to Paris, I’ll hashtag and follow guidelines to the “T”! for a free packet of ranch dressing, not so enthused…
I don’t think you have to worry. The FTC is not going after individual bloggers. They’ve got bigger fish to fry. And yes, if you’re going to flog something, a trip to Paris is worth so much more!
Dianne – I love your spunk and completely agree – who cares if I make $0.26 off of a book sale? I find that my readers appreciate my work and are happy to support me by buying products through my site. I was not aware, though, of the per-post disclosure. I’ll have to start doing that.
That’s very nice of your readers, Amy. I really don’t like the idea of a per-post disclosure, but it seems best to keep everything above board.
These rules seem right in line with what other bloggers have recommended over the years. Glad to see the FTC spelling it out a little more clearly just to eliminate confusion. These seem very reasonable to abide by. Thanks for sharing this with us all!!
Thanks. Actually these are the same FTC guidelines, but a lawyer who specializes in social media has spelled out what she thinks they mean. I thought she did a great job.
Thanks for the post. There’s nothing like curling up by the fire with a good old-fashioned “FTC’s Revised Endorsement Guides Impact How Companies Can Advertise Through Social Media,” is there?
-
Hey, a fire would have been an improvement! You’re welcome.
Thank you, Dianne, for bringing this to our attention! It’s hard to believe all the hoops we must jump through to share on our blogs, but most of us have probably heard of bloggers taken to court. On our blogs we try to put a disclaimer on every post directly about a product, like a review. But like others who have commented here, we sometimes mention or recommend products that we purchased ourselves and use an affiliate link to guide readers to a purchase source (not for the 26 cents!). We’ll have to be more diligent. It’s going to be hard for me to remember to add the tweet #!
Thanks Marie. The main thing is that you are thinking about how to behave ethically. Doing so will filter down to your posts and tweets.
Thanks for this very helpful article. I do disclose on my blog posts, but never heard of the Twitter issue.
Thank you for this additional information! I knew about disclosure but not to this extent.
Well, these are the lawyer’s recommendations based on the guidelines, so it depends if you see it the same way. Of course since I”m not a lawyer I’m going with her interpretation.
I have this in my signature: This post may contain an affiliate link. See my Disclosure Page for more information.
But I guess maybe I should take that off and just apply it to each post that is linked to an affiliate.
I am still semi-new to blogging and rules and I hate to think that wasn’t a good enough way to disclose, I just thought doing that would be easier so I would be safe then forget and not put disclosurer on. I didn’t mean to do that, but I will change it, cause I want to abide by the rules for sure!
I think that’s just fine, actually. Remember that they are recommended guidelines, not written in stone. The main thing is that you are disclosing.
Whew good thanks for your input! Much appreciated!!
As always you are best filter and most reliable source for the latest in food media, Dianne. I found esp interesting your comment about book reviews. As you know, it is standard procedure and always has been for publishing companies to provide review copies to critics and journalists without the reviewer having to disclose this relationship, whether it is Thomas Pynchon or Sandra Lee’s latest work. All publishers now see bloggers as an important part of the critic universe (which they are). But it is the blogger’s ability to earn a payout from the book (even if just 26 cents — love that detail, Amy) that makes the difference and compels disclosure. Still, as all content migrates over to digital, I think this is a bit of a gray area — many mainstream news outlets include a link to the book for buying and I have to believe the company, if not the writer, is earning something off that. Since I was a reviewer in the old-media world, I still receive review copies, but I generally don’t mention them on my blog unless the author is someone I admire, know or have worked with, or the book just blows me away. Then I will say something like “chef/author ABC had a copy of her new book sent to me to take a look at” to establish that connection. It would seem so weird to me to write “Publisher ABC gave me this book to review.” The question is, is that transparent enough? Thoughts?
Thank you Tori! Actually it is I who said that about the $.26, in my post.
Re payouts, publications pay freelance reviewers for their print reviews, but the reviewers don’t have to disclose that they received the book for free. Bit of a double standard, eh? And as you said, websites link to affiliate programs too, not just bloggers.
I think people will know what you mean if you say that the book was sent to you. It means no money changed hands.
This is getting ridiculous. I wonder if a disclosure at the bottom of every page stating “This post may contain affiliate links” would be enough. By bottom, I am talking about the very bottom where the copyright is.
Maybe. And if you could link it to your About page, where you disclose more about the affiliate program, that might be sufficient.
Update: Nope, that is insufficient. I just reread the guidelines. The FTC recommends you disclose on every post.
Is it enough to have one disclosure policy covering your whole blog, or so you have to have one on each review post?
According to the FTC guidelines, you need it in every post.
Great post Diane! and great conversation to follow it. Beyond posts and tweets, I recently heard of a large website paying bloggers to leave positive comments on sponsored posts.. I wonder if/how that might be disclosed?
Thanks, Julie. Where did these sponsored posts appear? On the company’s website? If so, the company is supposed to disclose, in each post, that the blogger had been compensated.
Heavens – this will change the way I view any positive comments left on commercial sites in the future! I’d always assumed the comments were “cherry-picked” for the best ones, but never thought they’d be paid for. That’s a bit like the old payola scams on radio in years gone by.
I haven’t seen any of the comments yet – I just saw the request go out this afternoon… it’s a big online web community with lots of bloggers working for them.
Also – paid pins! I imagine as technology evolves there will be more and more platforms and ways to pay for endorsements.
Definitely. Just got an email from BlogHer asking if I wanted to work with sponsors on Pinterest, Google+, etc. Uh, no.
Interesting! It must be the new thing… it wasn’t BlogHer I was talking about!
This was very good information to know. I have bookmarked this in permanent file to refer to at a later time when it becomes something I need to be refreshed on. Thank you for posting it.
My pleasure, Susan. Thanks for taking the trouble to post.
I have wondered how this FTC thing affects non-Americans? While I have no issue with disclosure, I wonder how fussy I need to be about it as a Canadian.
IE where is this FTC rule/guide legally binding? Only in the USA?
Yes, the FTC is part of the American government, so the recommendations are not binding in other countries.
Thank you for the reply Dianne
Thanks for the info, Dianne. I have not yet been in a position where I’ve had to disclose anything, but it’s good to have this going forward.
You never know, right Roberta? You might decide to become part of an affiliate program, or accept a free product for review.
I used to put “affiliate link” in the ALT text of a link to any product I recommended on Amazon. But it sounds like that isn’t clear or conspicuous enough.
I’m curious about how other bloggers are going about disclosing their affiliate links.
Some people have made suggestions in their comments. I’m going to put a note at the bottom of the post.
Thanks for sharing this new interpretation of the FTC rules. On my blog, I’ve labeled the advertising blocks and put a general disclaimer site-wide. And of course, I always mention if a post is sponsored — it’s not a big source of my content though, since I want to always keep my voice and (ample!) opinions as the dominant tone on the blog.
Full disclosure and honesty are personally important to me, and practically important to my site marketing and growth, since the only people that matter, really, are my readers!
You are absolutely right. The only people who matter are your readers. It sounds like you are treating them with respect, Lauren.
Dianne, thank you as ever for providing insightful and concise posts. I have been lurking ever since I bought your book “Will Write for Food”. As an erstwhile all-over-the-map blogger and recovering lawyer, I have found your tips on writing and focus (as well as your writing exercises) invaluable. As a result, I intend to start a food-focused blog for fun and creative release – in my other blog I found my spirited voice but perhaps let that voice speak too hypomanically. (My strength in my legal career was plainer language editing for other workers: “Physician, heal thysel!”)
Thanks ever so.
You are most welcome, Kristina, and thanks for reading both my blog and my book. As a recovering lawyer, I get you have lots of insights on this subject. But it’s probably more fun to start a new food blog. Good luck with that.
Very good information … Thx for sharing
You’re welcome. I glad you found it useful.
Thanks, Dianne!
Is it enough to have an affilate disclosure on your blog footer or does it need to be at the end of every post w/ affiliate links as well.
Thanks!!
It needs to be at the end of every post that has affiliate links in it, Adrienne.
Hi Dianne, this is great and something we have found very useful.
We quite often ask for guest content, and in the majority of cases we then get that content with external links in it (normally there will be one from the site the writer has come from). Is it enough to disclose something like this “This post was written by XXXX from XXX.com)”?. In this situation no money has changed hands but we have received a service in getting some specialist expert content we couldn’t write ourselves.
It depends what the links go to. If they are just to the guest’s website, no problem. In fact, it is a courtesy for you to link back, and if no money has changed hands, the guest writer probably expects it. If the guest is endorsing a product, then you have to disclose.
Hi Dianne, that’s helpful and thanks for taking the time to reply, but what if the users website is also the product? For example we have asked for travel articles about particular destinations in the past. We get some great content, but they will then link back to the writers company which is a commercial site….
Oh I see. If you are not sure, best to disclose.
If I blog about the product, then tweet the link to the post, which has the disclosure, do I still have to mark the tweet as #ad? The tweet doesn’t mention the company, just the blog post. Would love to know if that’s ok or not! Thanks!
Yes, you need to ad #ad or #spon to the tweet.
I’m so glad I came across your post. I often get guest post offers with embedded links to advertisers. I have run a few of these posts and disclosed that these are sponsored posts.
However, today, I got an offer from someone willing to pay to have her advertorial on my site. The condition was that I could not disclose that this was a paid advertorial. I declined. She wrote back saying she is sure someone else will accept.
This was not the first time this happened. It really annoys me that more and more companies are trying to pass off advertorials as editorials. Thank you for this post.
Good for you for turning her down. What annoys me is the number of bloggers who say yes! I don’t think they understand what it does to their credibility.
Hi Dianne! Just reread this post again and I apologize if I already left a comment earlier. Thanks for all the info about the new FTC rules. I recently was “gifted” a gift certificate for an outdoor apparel clothing company and in exchange they expected me to do a live tweet chat, mention their brand repeatedly, link to their site and make sure to say on my blog they were a “shoe & clothing” company. I refused to do any of the above and returned the gift certificate, which I never asked for anyway. And more importantly, their “outdoor shoes & apparel” had nothing to do with my recipe and story in the article, which was about my family’s traditions. What was even hilarious was that the Brand and the organizers of the event kept insisting it was “not a sponsored event”. I hope more bloggers and companies who want to sponsor events get to read this post so they can be properly educated on what is the law.
Hi Dianne! I am a food blogger and I review restaurants in LA (no compensation at all), should I write a disclaimer at the end of the post?
I think rules only apply for strict companies and as a blogger we still have the freedom on how can we derive into a quality review post and make it sell.
These rules were made mostly for bloggers who are paid to promote products. While a quality review is always a worthwhile goal, it just depends on whether you received a product, meal or service for free.
Hi there!
I haven’t worked as such yet with any companies, but I d love too if it is a brand I believe in. For that reason I haven’t taken the time yet to add a disclosure part to my blog, no idea either if it makes already sense to add it.
There is one thing I am confused about. The internet is global right? Now the rules you have stated above make sense to me and I agree, but they are concerning the US. So, I guess that every country will have their own rules. a country like Austria where blogging barely exists and where it is not considered as a business niche, wont have any rules about that. But the Internet is global and its owned by the US.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Hi Helen. It is true that these rules apply only in the US. You have to decide if they make sense for you, when the time comes when you want to feature a product you received for free, or one you have been paid to discuss on your blog.
I’m not sure anyone “owns” the Internet, but it was invented in the US.
And p.s., what a fascinating life you have in Goa. Thank you for reading my blog.
How exactly do we “disclose” the Amazon Associates stuff? I post product links straight from AA. Is that good enough? I don’t understand (or see anything on Amazon) about anything else we have to include?
You say in your post that you make money from an affiliate program when people follow links and purchase. That’s all there is to it.
As if the FTC give a stuff about some small blog that happens to have a mention. It’s just a blatant attempt by authorities to create a bit of moral panics!
Actually they’re not so interested in small fish like us. But the rules still apply.
No they’re not. I have several blogs and they have never come after me. The same people believe this is legit are the same people who watch Fox News and spread moral panics! Probably the same doomsdayers who thought the Mayan calendar meant the end of the world was yesterday!!!
this is the very important article oh i am so impressive to read this thank for sharing
product reviews
Sure. Glad you found something useful in it.
So, I did a review and full disclosure over the summer for a relatively expensive coffee machine and now the company is planning on issuing a 1099 for full retail price.
I’m thinking: no.
But what is the experience of others here? No amount of googling has found me an answer, but the link to the FTC regs was fabulous and clear.
Thanks.
b
Hah! That’s a good one.
Yes, they have the right to issue the 1099. If you don’t like the idea, you could always ask to buy it at a reduced rate. Or sell it to try to mitigate any expense this will incur for you.
Hi Diane, I am trying to see the example on your http://diannej.com/blog/2011/12/5-writing-books-for-holiday-marking-and-underlining/ page, though could not find it. Is it because the post was written in 2011 or am I missing it on that page?
Lea, you couldn’t find it because I forgot to include the disclosure! I just added it. Thank you for pointing it out.
“New FTC Rules on Writing Reviews, Affiliations, and Sponsored
Posts” was indeed a terrific post. If perhaps it owned much
more pictures it could be possibly even more effective.
Cya -Deanna
I only use Amazon and have a book/media recommendation page for all women to post books that were helpful in their self development and career journeys as they step up to theire career potential. Can I make One Post on that main page the the Amazon affiliate linnk will be used to provide workshop discounts for non-profits? It would be extremely difficult to control it or add to every post.
I’d appreciate your expertise to know what is best since my mission is to help women excel and have career fulfillment.
Claudia
According to the paper I read, disclosing only in one place that you are an affiliate is insufficient, versus disclosing in every post.
The biggest bone I have to pick about the new FTC laws are in regards to tweeting. Tweeting to me is like free speech. I am not a lawyer, but I seriously don’t see how the FTC can regulate what your tweet says. And what if someone else tweets about your sponsored post. It’s murky water and I’m sure these regulations will morph some more over time.
Your blog is free speech too, but you are morally obligated, in both cases, to be honest with your readers when you promote something in return for payment or payment in kind.
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