New FTC Rules and Guidelines – Affiliate Disclosures are More Strict than You Thought
Here’s another highlight from the interview between Jim Edwards and FTC assistant deputy, Mr. Rich Cleveland. It’s regarding affiliate disclosures.
This issue applies to anyone who uses an affiliate link to promote a product. And that includes almost everyone who reads my newsletter.
Jim Edwards asked if adding the words “Disclosure: Compensated Affiliate” near an affiliate link would satisfy the requirements of the FTC guidelines.
The FTC response was that in most cases it probably would. However, he couldn’t give a blanket “Yes” for all possible situations. He went on to say:
“The disclosure must be sufficient to alert the consumer that of the connection between the endorser, which in this case is an affiliate marketer. Your disclosure would appear to meet this requirement. The most important aspect of this kind of disclosure will be whether it is clear and conspicuous. Consumers must be able to see the disclosure when they are viewing the endorsement and at the point of the link to the seller’s website.”
Solution: Use “Disclosure: Compensated Affiliate” (or something like it) next to all your affiliate links and make sure that the consumer can easily see that disclosure when viewing the link. That applies to any affiliate links you now have online as well as those you use in the future.
Personal Observation: Since “Disclosure: Compensated Affiliate” has 33 characters and most shortened URLs have 22 characters, that leaves me with only 85 characters for my Tweets containing an affiliate link. Wow, and I thought 140 characters was hard to do.
How are you handling the affiliate disclosure on your marketing? Leave a comment and let us know.
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If you want to listen to the entire interview between Jim Edwards and Mr. Rich Cleveland, Assistant Deputy at the FTC, you can hear it here: www.igottatellyou.com/blog/ftc-change-interview.
As always, please note that no legal advice is dispensed in this article or on our website, and any information or opinions shared are for educational and entertainment purposes only. If you want legal advice, please seek the services of an attorney for your particular circumstances.
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