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Yes, that title was a little long, but I wanted to make sure I had your attention. As the majority of you may be aware ( or should be, at least ) yesterday new FTC rules came into effect concerning the utilization of testimonials and endorsements in advertising. A lot of the new laws have an effect on internet-based marketers, so I decided to go straight to the source to see exactly what this would mean for me ( and for you, my readers ).

I went to http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/endortest.shtm and basically read through the entire twelve page guide especially the Fed Trade Commission 16 CFR Part 255 Guides Concerning the employment of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Here are the highlights as they pertain to us online marketers :

first off , there’s the matter of endorsements. The FTC specifically states that endorsements must reflect the fair opinions, discoveries, beliefs, or experience of the endorser. This part may sound pretty simple, but how they define that ‘honesty’ has some enormous ramifications about how you can write your sales copy or other advertising or promotion pieces.

The giant term the FTC is using is substantiation of representations conveyed. What this implies is that you need to be in a position to prove ( and back up ) any claims you make. Which I have always told you to do, but what’s modified is what they consider explanation. While Ihave always used real examples for my explanation, I ( and everyone else ) would naturally choose the best results out of the bunch to focus on. Itis a natural thing to do.

But now, no longer are you able to say, about a weight loss product, for example, Lose 20 pounds in 2 weeks! because one of your customers did. Now, any claims you make have to be representative of the average experience of the user, not the exceptional ones. And you can’t just cover your butt with a results not typical disclaimer, either the FTC has deemed that disclaimers didn’t adequately cut back the communication that the experiences depicted are usually representative. In English, that means that even if you are saying that results aren’t classic in details, it doesn’t change the incontrovertible fact that you are giving the impression in the big giant strap line that everyone could lose 20 pounds in two weeks.

Keep reading the rest about New FTC Regulations…

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