A bit off-topic but, have you seen this?

Affiliate Marketing Disclosure Now Required By Law? | Copyblogger

I've read the associated articles and it seems that the goal is different than mere affiliate links on a blog. They're after "flogs" (fake blogs) in a word-of-mouth context (under word-of-mouth FTC rules).

What are you thoughts? Mike Young or anyone else?

This is SERIOUS stuff.

My thoughts are posted here:

FTC Cracks Down On Word-Of-Mouth Advertising

Regards,

-Mike

Unless you feel like you're a more qualified attorney than Mike Young or I, you might want to give the matter more consideration.

Read Mike's article.

Brian

Depends on how you define "consumer" and "marketer".

I'm currently writing a site for a supplement. One of the battles my clients are fighting is the proliferation of "information" sites that purport to offer unbiased comparisons of rival supplements.

Of course the top three products are always those being sold by the affiliate or marketer of the site, with no mention of the relationship.

I believe these practices are probably already covered under current law, but the sheer volume of this activity will make it difficult to enforce.

The real devil (in this market) seems to be in online support forums when posters gush about a certain product. This creates a double edged sword in that honest promotion of genuinely enthusiastic (uncompensated) consumers is now viewed with suspicion while desperate consumers looking for answers can be manipulated.

Blog buzz marketing is also problematic for some of the same reasons.

A.

If someone chooses to put their credibility on the line in exchange for an affiliate commision, then what is the problem? If the reccomendation turns out to be a dog, the referrer has no more credibility (reduced at best). Sounds fair to me.

Not to mention that if you're taking recommendations from someone that you don't know to be a credible source, then I believe that you as the consumer are equally as responsible.

I get sick of people with fully functioning brains choosing not to use them only to turn around cry foul. It's insulting to those that really are victims of something.

Rant over.

Brian, I did read Mike's article and when he said:

Online marketers have something new to worry about.


If you promote a product and you have a relationship with the seller of the product, you must disclose that relationship. That’s according to an FTC staff opinion issued on December 11, 2006.

He is incorrect. I've read the 5 page letter and I was going to copy and paste a few sections showing what he's saying isn't 100% correct, but I'll leave it up to all the marketers here to read it.


[Edited by Michel Fortin]


Hopefully everyone takes a few minutes to read it. The majority of affiliate marketers have nothing to worry about.

I'm not sure if it makes a difference, but the date on your letter is December 7th and Mike references a December 11th letter. It's probably the same letter mailed in different batches. Not sure though

You could be right.

The blog Fortin piked only had a link to a Washington paper which did not have a link to the actual FTC letter.

[Edited by Michel Fortin]

Letter was dated December 7th. However, the opinion was promulgated to the public on December 11th. The date is actually part of the pdf file name.

Hope that clears up the confusion.

-Mike