FTC helps to stop the new Blog 'BS'

The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) took action and will require that writers on the Web clearly disclose any freebies or payments they get from companies for reviewing their products. The commission also said advertisers featuring testimonials that claim dramatic results cannot hide behind disclaimers that the results aren't typical.

In it's announcement Oct 5, the FTC made clear it will stop the next generation marketing BS and help consumers to differentiate between marketing and user based comments.

I hope that Blog Owners will soon be requested to expose their sponsors to come forward with their real agenda. Some of the leading blogs are nothing but sponsored lead generation platforms, where a registered reader is becoming a lead. If you wonder why you receive all of a sudden email advertising from a company you never dealt with - now you know.

While I'm not sure about the effectiveness of advertising, at least it is a transparent mechanism. Like here on Customer Think.

Axel
http://xeesm.com/AxelS