The US Federal Trade Commision is beginning a clamp down on any untruthful statements made by advertisers and celebs when endorsing products/services.
New rules will come into place at the start of December, saying that people being paid to endorse products should explicitly state what compensation they are getting from the company in return. So no more celebs ‘naturally’ dropping brand names into conversations from now on I guess?
The FTC hasn’t updated its policies since 1980 but I assume the increase in digital media now means better policies must be in place. It should allow for better transparency in places like blogs where people can say anything they want without us readers knowing how much truth lies within.
In the past only companies themselves could be pulled up for false statements about products, but now the celebs being paid to endorse them will also be liable; which I think is kinda a little bit crazy really! What if a company spokesperson got a thick celeb, e.g. er…. Paris Hilton, on board and explained everything about their product, the benefits etc, which she then later mis-remembered, making up her own mind on the product and declaring its new magical attributes? Does that mean that she is liable, just because she is stupid? I’m not totally sure how celeb endorsements work, I mean, they might be given a script to follow rigidly when talking about the product, with full Q&As to help them in their endorsement, or they might just have to be seen using it and hence believing it’s the best. Either way, I think we some celebs could get into a fair bit of trouble now, where endorsements are concerned.
The new guidelines also mean that advertisers can't use statements likes ‘results not typical’ when showing what their wonderful products can do; they must actually show the proper average results achieved by typical consumers. This makes me think back to all the chat I’ve had on airbrushing recently. There was talk of having health warnings on ads containing air brushing, warning that the results seen in the pictures had been enhanced. These were rejected but I guess the new FTC guidelines mean a way-in, in a sense, which I am happy for.
Cant wait to see if any celeb endorsers are caught short on their blogs or interviews in the near future. Or if any of their airbrushed mugs fall foul of enhancing product results…
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
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