Business

FTC takes aim at celebs, Web hype-sters

Attention, celebrities and bloggers endorsing a product: Uncle Sam is watching.

The Federal Trade Commission is taking a harder line when it comes to celebrities and bloggers who are paid to tout products — requiring them to disclose to readers when they get cash or some sort of “in-kind” payment to endorse a product.

It marks the first time that the rules, which were last updated in 1980, have been extended to bloggers. The blogging community, which was expecting regulation, has been debating disclosure since the FTC released a draft version of the rules last year.

“I won’t be doing anything different because I’ve always provided disclosure on my site,” said Christine Young, a mother’s issues blogger who also hosts Johnson & Johnson’s YouTube baby channel. “I’m always clear that the product was sent to me.”

Celebrities will be required to reveal when they are being paid to shill a product outside of an obvious ad, such as in a talk-show setting or on a social-media Web site. Along with advertisers, stars can be held liable for making false and misleading claims about a product under the new rules.

“I think you will see a change in talent contracts because they have to be made aware of this,” said John Feldman, a partner in Reed Smith’s marketing and advertising practice. “The celebrity needs to be put on notice.”

The guidelines also require advertisers to state results that consumers can “generally expect” from using a product. Under the old rules, advertisers could highlight “unusual results” so long at they slapped the “results not typical” disclaimer on the ad.