Fat City doesn't get many things free but every now and then a surprise does show up in our mailbox. Fat City's rule is that if we ever get anything free, we disclose that if we review it. Soon that will be more than a house rule -- it'll be a federal law. New FTC rules are about to demand that, among other things, "bloggers who get free products and then endorse them on their blogs would have to make it clear they got the products free."
Nothing on this blog is going to change but other parts of the new law might drastically affect the food and drug advertising landscape.
For example, "results not typical" ads will have to disclose just how
not typical they are. We might be seeing more substantial disclaimers like the one Subway
put on its Jared ads: "Individuals lost
weight by exercising and eating a balanced, reduced-calorie diet that
included Subway sandwiches with 6 grams of fat or less. Their results
are not typical. Your loss, if any, will vary. The Subway chain does
not endorse the diet Jared created."
And while the Robert Young "I'm not a doctor
but I play one on TV" testimonial will remain legal, doctors
endorsing a product must actually have expertise in the field they are
endorsing. Also, celebrities must disclose if they are getting paid to
endorse a product.
This should cut down
on the number of crappy products hawked by mountebanks on late-night
television. On the negative side, it may turn every ad into the
dreaded prescription-drug variety where a serious announcer goes over
30 seconds of side-effects while a couple frolics in a field.
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