The Well-read Naturalist just posted about a new FTC ruling regarding endorsement disclosures. The intent seems to be to make sure that relationships “between advertisers and endorsers – connections that consumers would not expect – must be disclosed”. We’ve all seen celebrities endorse products in commercials, on talk shows, etc, without being clear if this is their own opinion, or if they’re just getting paid to say it. Online, there are all kinds of websites talking about products. Sometimes it is hard to tell if they are by a legitimate third party, or just some kind of shill-site created by the manufacturer.
It’s hard to argue against attempting to clear these muddy waters. But these guidelines seem ambiguous to me, such that I wasn’t sure at first if they would apply to a site like mine. After looking through them more, I think they might. Regardless, as annoying as it is, in a situation like this I’d rather be safe than sorry.
I do not get paid to write reviews, or receive any sort of payment from publishers. However, I do receive complementary review copies from publishers and authors. Many of the books I review now are such review copies. But whether a book I review is sent to me by the publisher or bought with my own money, it does not affect how I review it. I don’t do this to get free books; I just want to provide a service for fellow bird bibliophiles. Honestly, when I started this site almost three years ago, it never even occurred to me that I would eventually be getting free review copies.
To comply with the FTC, I will now add a statement to each review where the product was provided by the publisher or author. And I will be going back and doing the same to previous reviews.
Posted by Grant McCreary on October 31st, 2009.
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