Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission released its revised Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. The Guides are more than 80 pages long, so we’re still analyzing the changes. However, there is no question that our extensive advocacy efforts have had an effect on the final iteration of the Guides. The commentary included with the changes explains that advertisements using consumer testimonials should be evaluated by the net impression of the advertisement. A footnote in the revised Guides also suggests that in some cases a disclaimer could be sufficient. A more comprehensive legal document will be circulated shortly, but it is clear from a preliminary review that our efforts have not been made in vain. The 35 advocacy meetings on the Hill, 40 constituent meetings at the Fly-In, the testimony before the Senate, two sets of detailed comments and our suggested language were all helpful in presenting our case to the FTC.
However, the new Guides certainly do present some challenges, both to traditional TV marketers and those in social media. ERA is already planning educational opportunities that will provide suggestions for compliance with these changes. We hope the FTC will seize the opportunity to improve the marketplace by presenting to these changes to ERA members at one of our conferences.
Members who attended the Fly-In, supported the Leadership Reception, participated in the Government Affairs Committee, helped to author and review our comments to the FTC, and of course, testified before the Senate, were all instrumental in mitigating some of the more harmful changes. We thank you.
Tomi Turner is ERA’s legislative manager.
To read ERA’s official statement, click here.
To read more about ERA’s government affairs efforts and what you can do to help, click here.
To read Electronic Retailer magazine’s June cover story on Endorsements & Testimonials, click here.
In the first half of this year, I talked about retailers 
Click here
The California Supreme Court’s recent decision to uphold Proposition 8, which bans gay marriage, has sparked statewide protests. 
As I was running through the forest this morning with my writing partner Scout (below), it occurred to me as we stopped along the way 28 times for the pooch, aka “Sir Spritz A lot,” to mark the route by broadcasting his pheromones, that the basic idea of Twitter may have been around for ages, having originated with dogs.
As a member of the Twitterati, I’d like to share my thoughts on what using the service can mean to marketers. The ability to send and receive short messages in real time is a logical next step in technological evolution. The service lengthens the list of communication options that includes e-mail, instant messaging, Facebook, LinkedIn, RSS, text messages, even the trusty old telephone. As a public relations and marketing consultant with expertise in Internet-based social media methods, my firm understands the importance of tapping into the newest new thing to reach audiences and hear back from them. So what have I learned about Twitter so far?
Some mainstream media outlets like Fox News continue to shape this debate within their own agenda’s terms, such as cropping this photo in an online article to distort the poster’s actual message.
It is clear that for online retailers to remain competitive during this holiday season, their sites must offer personalized recommendation engines, product reviews, live chat and a host of other features supported by social behavioral platforms. Consumers are driving this demand, and to ensure they continue to return to a site, they must have access to the technologies they have come to rely on.
Let’s face it, we’re addicts. We live for the Internet. We can’t function without the Internet. It controls us. But whatever, it’s awesome. We’re all curious by nature, but with the Internet, it breeds a much higher level of curiosity. I love how I can discover ANYTHING with a simple tap of my finger. It just feels so good in the morning when I have a hot cup of coffee and I make that anticipated double click to see what’s going on in the world—and by “world,†I mean Facebook, e-mail and a little CNN. Because of my addiction, I can’t resist a mindless Internet activity. So while browsing a friend’s profile on Facebook the other day, I found a new web obsession for all to enjoy: 
Just when I thought social websites, such as Facebook, were attempting to provide a little more security by tweaking the adjustability of the privacy settings, I began to take note of the sponsored link ads that creep along the sides of my homepage and the pages of other unsuspecting users and wonder just how confidential my profile actually is.
New media evangelism in the direct response industry begins to remind me of biblical tales of woe, the Old Testament tales where prophets are slaughtered or exiled or something along those lines. Or at least roundly mocked. It’s part of my personal story and also part of the state of the industry, and it’s truly unfortunate.
I have this little theory that social media (e.g., blogs, forums and social networks) open up a whole new behavioral change where it’s acceptable to be a little personal, a little less professional and more “off the cuff” with thoughts, comments and ideas. Facebook is the “great experiment” in which we are all now trying to figure out how much of our personal lives to share with who we allow to be friends.
