FTC Rules: Easy to Follow, Easy to Forget

August 15, 2017 by Leave a Comment

Happy Lawyers Unpacking our Barbri Books

I have the pleasure of speaking at Content Marketing World next month, in part, about the FTC rules that apply to advertising.

Disclose, Disclose, Disclose
The key to complying with the FTC rules for native advertising it to always disclose when you have a relationship with a company. That includes when you get a product for free, when you have a personal relationship with an officer of the company, and when you use affiliate links. In all of these situations, regardless of the platform, you have disclose when you are compensated for sharing an opinion or have a reason to be biased.

These rules even apply on social media platforms, including Instagram and Twitter. Usually using the hashtag “#ad” is sufficient to comply with the rules. The purpose of the rule is to let the reader know about your potential bias before they form an opinion about the product or your review.

The fine for violating these rules are harsh – up to $16,000 per violation under the current rules.

See you in Cleveland!
I have a goal of finding a way to climb this thing.

So Easy to Forget
These rules are simple to follow, and it’s also super easy to forget to remember to include the proper notice in a post. I had first-hand experience with this over the last few weeks.

My colleague and I teamed up with Barbri to study for the California Bar Exam. They gave me my study course for free (I split the cost of my colleague’s course with him) in exchange for writing a weekly post about what it’s like to study for a bar exam while practicing law. We did 11 weekly posts, and I’ll write one more when we get our results this fall.

Early in each post, I repeated verbiage that disclosed our relationship with Barbri – that was easy enough. Where I had trouble was remembering to include “#ad” on every social media post. It’s easy to forget to remember to include those three characters. There were many mornings where I had to edit my posts or delete and re-do tweets to add in “#ad.”

I recently learned I’m not alone. According to research, 37% of publishers do not adhere to the FTC rules for labeling the material as sponsored. I’m curious to see if the FTC is investigating or fining content creators who don’t follow the disclosure rules.

I’m super excited to talk about the FTC rules and how to write effective contracts for content creators at Content Marketing World. It’s one of my favorite events on online advertising. I’m just as ecstatic about speaking as I am about learning from my fellow presenters.

I’m constantly doing work related to internet law, so if you want to keep up with what I’m doing or if you need help, you can contact me directly or connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or LinkedIn.  You can also get access to more exclusive content that is available only to people on my mailing list, by subscribing here.

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Where to Put “#ad” on Instagram Posts

July 7, 2016 by 2 Comments

Free StuffLast month, Rosie and I attended BlogPaws – a conference for pet bloggers – where I taught a workshop with Chloe DiVita and Tom Collins on the Legal Dos and Don’ts of Blogging and Social Media.  We did a three-hour presentation that focused on copyright and the federal rules that apply to product reviews, campaigns, and promotions.

We reminded the audience that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires people to provide their honest and accurate opinions when writing product reviews. If you have a relationship with a company – whether you got free product, you have a contract with them, or even if you have personal relationship with someone in the company, you always have to disclose these relationships – clearly and succinctly – in every post and platform you mention them. We also reviewed the Lord & Taylor fiasco. This was a good reminder for social media influencers not to assume the companies they work with will know these rules or provide proper guidance

After the workshop, I did one-on-one sessions with attendees. Per the conference organizers, each person only got 10-minutes, so it was like a legal information kissing booth – sit down, ask one question, and get out. One attendee asked, “I understand that I have to put #ad on all Instagram posts when I have a relationship with a company, but are there rules about where I have to put it?”

Hmm . . . that’s an interesting question, and one I’ve never heard before.

Rosie and I were happily the most underdressed on the BlogPaws red carpet. (Photo by Silver Paw Studio, used with permission)

Rosie and I were happily the most underdressed on the BlogPaws red carpet. (Photo by Silver Paw Studio, used with permission)

The purpose of the FTC rules is transparency. The law requires posters to inform others of potential bias due to a relationship with company so whomever reads the post can consider this in conjunction with the content of the post. This disclosure must be clear and conspicuous,  you can’t put it behind a link. The easiest way to make this disclosure is to include “#ad” on each applicable post.

I grabbed my phone and scrolled through my Instagram feed. Each post cuts off after the first three lines until you click on it to read more. Based on this, it appears the prudent place to put “#ad” on an Instagram post is to put it in the first three lines so anyone looking at their feed on their will know when you have a relationship with a company.

After the conference, I looked at Instagram’s Terms of Use. Although their terms are impressive and thorough, there are currently no provisions explicitly about when and where to use “#ad.”

The law is constantly trying to keep up with technology, including the internet. If you’re a social media influencer, keep up with changes in the FTC rules regarding disclosures on product reviews and promotions. and other rules that apply to your posts. If you have questions about internet law, you can contact me directly or connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or LinkedIn. You can also get access to more exclusive content that is available only to people on my mailing list, by subscribing here.

Hat tip to Rosalyn of Golden Woofs and Sugar the Golden Retriever for this question.

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The Paisley Dress and the FTC: A Cautionary Tale

May 24, 2016 by 4 Comments
Lord & Taylor by Mike Mozart from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

Lord & Taylor by Mike Mozart from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

If you want a story of what not to do when it comes to working with influencers and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), look to Lord & Taylor.

To promote their new clothing line collection, Design Lab, Lord & Taylor sought out influencers on Instagram. They sent a piece from the collection – a paisley dress – to 50 influencers, and paid each of them $1,000-4,000 to post a picture of themselves wearing the dress on a specific day (“product bomb”). The agreement with each influencer was that they would use certain campaign designations and hashtags and that Lord & Taylor would review and approve these posts prior to the product bomb day.

The Infamous Paisley Dress

The Infamous Paisley Dress

This is where this story hurts my head:

  1. Lord & Taylor didn’t require the influencers to disclose that these posts were part of a campaign.
  2. When Lord & Taylor reviewed each post, they didn’t insist that the influencers add this information.
  3. None of the 50 influencers who were paid to post a picture of themselves wearing the paisley dress included the disclaimer or asked about it.

How can marketing professionals claim they’re competent at creating social media campaigns and not know about the basic FTC rules about native advertising?

How can an influencer who wants to use their social media platforms as a business and not know the basic rules of the game? The rules are not hard to follow:

  • Only give your truthful and accurate review of products, and
  • Always disclose when you have a relationship with a company.

If a company doesn’t want you to do this, send them a link to the FTC rules and run away as fast as you can. If they don’t understand these basic rules, they don’t know what they’re doing. I’d be worried about what else they’re doing wrong.

Companies should insist on these disclosures. When I did product reviews, my contract required me to include what I liked and didn’t like about the product and to always disclose that I got to use each product for free.

Luckily for Lord & Taylor, they appear to have gotten off with a warning. The FTC could have fined them or their influencers up to $11,000 per violation ($11K x 50 influencer posts = $550K). The next company that makes this mistake may not be so lucky.

I’m looking forward to speaking on this topic at BlogPaws to help bloggers avoid getting in hot water. If you want to talk with me about the FTC rules and social media law, you can contact me directly or connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or LinkedIn. You can also get access to more exclusive content, entrepreneurial tips, and rants that are available only to people on my mailing list, by subscribing here.

 

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