Why Did I post a Disclosure?

Okay some of you are probably wondering why I just posted a Disclosure as a post. The reason for this is because of the FTC report that came out yesterday, I’m just covering my butt if you know what I mean. For those that don’t know here is the part that seems to be freaking everyone out:

FTC Changes Affect Testimonial Advertisements, Bloggers, Celebrity Endorsements:

Under the revised Guides, advertisements that feature a consumer and convey his
or her experience with a product or service as typical when that is not the case will be required to clearly disclose the results that consumers can generally expect. In contrast to the 1980 version of the Guides – which allowed advertisers to describe unusual results in a testimonial as long as they included a disclaimer such as “results not typical” – the revised Guides no longer contain this safe harbor.

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.

Okay so the bold is the big reason why I blogged about my disclosure, this way no one can state I’ve never let others know. The italics part is the part I don’t think many are noticing but since I do blog tours which sometimes gives me an amazon gift certificate I thought I should mention it. Sometimes I also get donation cards where I sign in and donate money to teachers, I don’t normally post that I just got a donation card and donated…that’s been a personal thing for me. So there it folks, some of you may want to update your own blogs if you get FREE products just to make sure you are covered.