This morning I got an email from my rep at The Hydra Network. I learned they have now included the new (vague and ambiguous) FTC guidelines on testimonials into their terms and conditions.
This means that ignoring those guidelines could get your affiliate account suspended and/or forfeit your commissions! Ouch!
Here are the new ts and cs:
- Advertisers may no longer tout unusual or extraordinary results in testimonials by including a disclaimer such as “results not typical”. Ads that feature a consumer and convey his/her experience with a product or service as typical when that is not the case need to clearly disclose the results that consumers can generally expect, in addition to being truthful.
- “Material connections” between advertisers and endorsers — connections that consumers would not expect — must be disclosed. This means that if an endorser receives payments (e.g. a CPA payment from Hydra for a campaign promoting that product), or even free product or services, from an advertiser or the seller of the product or service, that fact must be disclosed.
- A blogger, reviewer or “word-of-mouth” marketer who receives payment (including CPA payments from Hydra for promotion of a product), or even free product samples, to review a product or service is considered an “endorser” and, therefore, must disclose that a material connection with the seller of the product exists.
- A paid endorsement — like any other advertisement — is deceptive if it makes any false or misleading claims.
- Both advertisers and endorsers may be liable for false or unsubstantiated claims made in an endorsement — or for failure to disclose material connections between the advertiser and endorsers.
- If an endorser claims to be an expert with respect to the endorsement message, then he or she must be qualified with sufficient expertise to offer the endorsement.