Law Requires Disclosure of Affiliate Marketing Links, Word-of-mouth and Paid Reviews

Wednesday, December 13th, 2006;
-- Andy Beal |

Copyblogger has been digging around a new statement made by the Federal Trade Commission and reported by the Washington Post.

The bottom line, the FTC is pushing to make companies disclose any compensation received when promoting a product or company. While this is not a new law, the FTC wants marketers to know how it intends to interpret existing legislation.

…companies engaging in word-of-mouth marketing, in which people are compensated to promote products to their peers, must disclose those relationships…Word-of-mouth marketing can take any form of peer-to-peer communication, such as a post on a Web blog, a MySpace.com page for a movie character, or the comments of a stranger on a bus.

This certainly impacts word-of-mouth marketing companies more than anyone else, but it could also effect affiliate marketers. And what about all of those pay-per-review sites that are popping-up. PayPerPost.com is going to have to change its model to force reviewers to disclose their relationship.

Via ProBlogger.

6 Responses to “Law Requires Disclosure of Affiliate Marketing Links, Word-of-mouth and Paid Reviews”

  1. Mark Says:

    Give me a break - if you are on a bus?

    This isnt going to effect SEO much, but I still think its crazy how much they want to be a “moderator” for the web.

  2. steve Says:

    Firstly, this isn’t a “law” — this is an opinion of staff by FTC.

    Amazing how the information on this stuff spits out the other side as …”Law Requires…”

    ugh.

  3. Saul Says:

    Can anyone recommend me affiliate programs where you can use text links?
    I need to know of all the affiliate programs out there where you can use text links and that pay per click.
    thanks in advance….

  4. Webmaster Money Says:

    I got scared that it is realted to all affiliate programs. What is anyway the “word-of-mouth marketing”? Never heard about that before.

  5. bollywood Says:

    So simple disclaimer like “we are getting paid by advertisement on this site” would do?

  6. Buffalo Lawyers Says:

    Bollywood - Yes, in my humble opinion, that would be the only requirement.

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