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FTC Ruling Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials
Although this post has nothing to do with human resource virtual assisting, it does concern one of the administrative assistant’s responsibilities — covering the boss’ butt, otherwise known as making sure the boss is aware of everything.
When I first became aware of the FTC’s new ruling governing the use of endoresments, testimonials, etc., I thought that everyone must be aware of the ruling, but during my travels around the Net, I found that many were not aware of the ruling so here goes.
In December 2009, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of the U.S.A. established a set of guidelines regarding the use of endoresments, testimonials, opinions, reviews, etc. on the Internet. Although the FTC’s intentions are good, the ruling is vague and overly broad. Take for example the ruling’s title, “Guidelines Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising” gives the impression that the new ruling covers only advertisers, but as you read through it, you’ll find that the ruling covers bloggers, review writers, opinion web sites, etc. As a result, different readers of the ruling have different interpretations. Some say the ruling doesn’t apply to them, others say it applies to everyone and the FTC itself says it will enforce the ruling as it sees fit which begs the question:
How do you know if you’re in violation of the rule? Do you wait for the FTC to hit you with a fine?
The best, plain english explanation I found was on ClickNewz, and I invite you to go over there and read their blog posting about the new FTC ruling, “The FTC Update — In Plain English” (http://www.clicknewz.com/2061/ftc-update/) and then decide for yourself if the ruling applies to you.
After you’ve read about the FTC’s new ruling, please hop on back here and tell me what you think.
