Heads up via Adam B of Daily Kos for bloggers who do product reviews or endorsements (emphasis his.)

Today, the Federal Trade Commission formally enacted new rules regarding the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (PDF), extending these requirements regarding disclosures of conflicts of interest (last revised in 1980) to the Internet.

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The revised Guides also add new examples to illustrate the long standing principle that “material connections” (sometimes payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers – connections that consumers would not expect – must be disclosed. These examples address what constitutes an endorsement when the message is conveyed by bloggers or other “word-of-mouth” marketers. The revised Guides specify that while decisions will be reached on a case-by-case basis, the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service. Likewise, if a company refers in an advertisement to the findings of a research organization that conducted research sponsored by the company, the advertisement must disclose the connection between the advertiser and the research organization. And a paid endorsement – like any other advertisement – is deceptive if it makes false or misleading claims.

Read the quote in context here.

Examples of where disclosure is required include not just bloggers who get free products (for sex bloggers that would include free vibrators, publications, and pay-site memberships) but also

• Amateur consumer-review site bloggers when they review stuff they’ve received for free

• Employees, owners, and sales reps who post or comment about their products on other people’s websites

I don’t think this will much affect the reviewing bloggers I read since pretty much all of them are quite conscientious about disclosing their affiliations. It’s something to keep in mind though if you’re considering reviewing promotional materials.

One question that doesn’t seem to be addressed is be whether this could be used as another tool against comment spammers who, after all, are representing publications, websites, and products (where the product may be malware) and who typically disguise their affiliations in order to lure you to follow their links. One would certainly hope so. Conspiracy to subvert or flout FTC regulations can result in surprisingly large fines and long sentences.