By now, many of you have heard that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently came out with a "short" 81-page document outlining their latest Web guidelines for those who endorse products. What bloggers woke up to was the fact that now, as of December 1, 2009, they are expected to fully disclose their relationship with the companies that provide them either with paid endorsements or freebie gifts.
The FTC is afraid that we bloggers aren't very upfront about our honesty about the products that we write about and endorse. They fear that we bloggers are misleading and are taking bribes from companies, PR reps and affiliate programs and pimping stuff that we really don't believe in. (Rant switch turned on)
We beer bloggers now have to react and fully disclose every little detail about the beers, beer books, beer gadgets and beer related products and events that we review or endorse.
Just the facts ma'am
Sure, I've gotten free stuff. I've received free samples of beer from various breweries, free beer gloves, free hangover remedies, complimentary tickets to events, free brewery maps and other assorted items. I also receive the occasional commission from various affiliate programs I participate in (Amazon, BYO Magazine, various homebrew shops, etc). I have yet to be paid for a product review or endorsement however.
I don't make much from affiliate programs or Google ads, and I have to rely on my regular full time day job to support myself and my family. Blogging barely pays for the beer I drink.
Do they think we're all stupid?
The FTC wants us (the blogging community) to let you (the blog readers) know each and every time we get something given to us and write about it. They want us to let you know what our true relationships are with the people who give us stuff. They don't trust us bloggers. They fear the general public can't make up their own minds about products.
I'll say right up front that the reviews I write here on Fermentedly Challenged are my own opinion and not a coerced script that I am expected to follow. I give out a lot of FREE publicity for brewers, book writers and beer gadgets without getting a cent in return. It's not because I'm getting paid for it, I'm not, it's because I have an opinion about it and I want to share it. I also firmly believe in supporting my local breweries because without them we wouldn't have good beer to write about.
Not all freebies are good
I've received some products in the past that I wasn't thrilled about. I don't always write about them. But when I do, I wrote about my honest opinion about their product. Some products I've flat out refused to write about because I didn't believe in it. Some products I didn't enjoy and wasn't very enthusiastic about. In many cases I really did enjoy the product and wrote a glowing review. But do I really need to convince my readers by disclosing every little detail of my dealings with businesses? Well, if the Feds insist.
So for all you "suits" at the FTC, I'll comply with your wishes and let people know up front when I write about some free stuff I get, but please don't insult the consumer nation out there by assuming they are all idiots. They aren't. They have a brain to think for themselves. Readers are smarter than you think.
I've always said, "Don't take my word for it - try it for yourselves". I firmly believe that everyone has a right to their own opinion and what they believe is the right thing for them. Just because I like a particular beer doesn't mean the next person will. Just look at BeerAdvocate and RateBeer. There are a billion opinions out there!
Got a Blog Disclosure Policy?
There's a good article that came out from Kelly Diels, a guest poster on the blog Problogger.net that talks about the new regulations and what every good blogger should consider. He advocates that every blogger should have a Blog Disclosure Policy for their blog. I tend to agree with Darren. The people need to know, but they don't always want to know. Disclosure helps build trust with your readers. I'm all for that.
Bloggers/Readers - what do you think?
For all you other bloggers out there, what have you done about the new FTC policies? Do you have a Blog Disclosure Policy? Are you being more up front about the free stuff or paid endorsements you do?
Readers - do you often doubt the bloggers intentions or honesty when they write about products? Think these new rules are a good idea?
I'm wondering if this whole thing is all a bunch of worry for nothing. What do you think?
And oh by the way, I didn't get paid to write this post either. But if you want to, drop me a line and send a few bucks my way and I'll be sure to let everyone know. Honest! (Rant switch OFF)
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Thursday, December 10, 2009
Beer bloggers, disclosure and the FTC
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11 comments:
When I used to review beer on my blog, I would always state up front if it was paid for or not. Usually this was because I am stoked about getting free stuff. But sometimes the free stuff was bad, and I didn't feel bad at all about panning it. In the end it comes down to the loyalty of the viewers to the blogger. If you give a false good rating to something, then they go out and try it and hate it...you lose all credibility with your audience and won't last reviewing whatever it is you review.
I wrote about this issue on my own blog along with another blogger and we're on the same page as you. I think this whole thing is retarded but unfortunately we live in a knee-jerk, litigation happy society.
Personally, I don't have a blogger disclosure page but it's not a bad idea. I was thinking of just prefacing any blog posts regarding a product/beer sample that was given to me with a single line of copy saying, "I didn't pay for this, it was given to me" or something similar.
As I understand it, these rules were not adopted because the FTC doubts the sincerity of bloggers. It's built as consumer protection - so that an innocent consumer can know what is an advertisement vs. an endorsement vs. a freely given opinion based on experience.
Here's the text of the actual changes, along with examples - it's only 12 pages long. Much easier to get through: http://www.ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf
In the grand scheme of things, all it means is that if you get a bottle of beer from a brewery to review, include the phrase, "The people at Awesomepants Brewery were kind enough to send me a bottle of their Frogswaggle Ale to review." End of story. There's your detailed summary of your relationship with Awesomepants Brewery.
The media really trumped these rules to be the Enemy of the Internet, but it's really about honest portrayal of goods and consumer protection, and it's not actually all that much different from what previously existed, they expanded the existing rules to cover new media. If you read through the guidelines themselves you'll see just how much of a non-issue this actually is.
And they're just guidelines, after all. You know.. like the speed limit.
Of course, I might differently if I routinely got beer in the mail to review. :)
Thx Eric - glad there is a shorter version of the long document. I think the biggest thing is just the fear that blogging will become over regulated. Sure, we have always been liable for what we say, but the more rules that go into place the more uncomfortable I feel as a blogger.
Travis - I agree, you have to be honest with yourself and your readers. Glowing reports on less than stellar products won't help anyone.
Peter - that works too. Short statements up front can go a long way. However, if we keep having to say that it could get old.
It's kind of like people who say "I'll be honest with you..." - are they not being honest with me when they don't say that?
Yeah - I totally understand the reluctance against regulation. Half of the attraction of the internet to people is the sort of Wild West attitude and freedom to make your own way. Hell, most of us are self-made experts out there in Internet-land. It's kind of awesome.
I think the guidelines have a place, but I agree that if they were strictly enforced they would be a huge pain in the ass.
I can understand feeling like "they don't trust me" but frankly I doubt anyone at the FCC cares about you. A new reader of your blog doesn't know you any more than the FCC does, and they don't know how important your integrity is to you. It doesn't seem too much to me to publicly thank the folks who sent you a product to review. That said, I don't have a blog so I don't know how annoying it might be.
The real problem with these rules is they will automatically lend credence to those people who are unethical enough not to follow them (and who post bogus reviews). Us relatively bright folks will still keep their bullshit detectors on.
Can we talk about beer again?
As a reader, I think it can help the blogger by bodly and confidently disclosing their status as an affiliate. Saying something like "I am proud to enodrse this product" is more effective than tip-toeing around the issue. Well-intentioned bloggers can use these rules to their advantage, while the extra transparency should weed out many of those that seek to deceive people.
That said, I do see a distinction between a review post about a particular product and something like Amazon affiliate links contained in context of your site. For example, if you Dave had a section for "beer books" with aff links I don't find it neccessary to disclose those links. But apparently the FTC does. I guess the distinction is too grey to write into the rules.
Matthew - I think you meant FTC and not FCC. I doubt the Federal Communications Commission has any power over blogs - least I hope they don't. Point taken. I promise not to stray off topic that often - still when a topic gets my attention I like to spout off at times.
Billy - I think most times, people can spot an affiliate link a mile away just by looking at the URL. Referrals help make the business world go around I think.
Thanks all for the great comments so far. I am glad to hear about everyone's opinion on this.
That's shocking. I always make reference to free beer/tickets/review items etc on my site just because it makes sense to show transparency and maintain credibility.
But legislation? It's an expression of opinion, FFS. Here in the UK, you can smell the bullshit blogs that just regurgitate press releases and wax lyrical about freebies. People don't take them seriously.
If I go down the pub tonight and recommend to my mates that they buy the bottle of beer I drank this afternoon, coz it was tasty - and it was sent free to me by a retailer - should I have to add a disclaimer?
I blog, "professionally" even tho I can't write for shit, but do I get paid for this? it's not in the job description... and the beers that I send out, aren't for kickbacks, they are for resources to friends, so they have something interesting to write about?? and, how do I account for the love, well, even differentiate the love that we get in social media?
FTC... please, stop and think about what you're doing?
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