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REPORT
Experts call blog disclosure law ‘unconstitutional’
By Jon Gingerich
Areport in the April edition of the
Harvard Law Review claims the
Federal Trade Commission’s new
disclosure law for endorsements and testimonials
on blogs could be unconstitutional.
Passed in October, bloggers must publicly
disclose any “material connection”
they have with companies if they are being
paid to review products or if they receive
free products for the sake of review.
Bloggers who fail to disclose this information
could be fined up to $10,000. The
FTC has yet to discuss how they will
enforce these new rules.
The Harvard Law Review report claims
these guidelines violate the First
Amendment. The article, titled “Internet
Law — Advertising and Consumer
Protection — FTC Extends Endorsement &
Testimonial Guides to Cover Bloggers,”
states that the FTC mistakenly treats all
blog endorsements as advertisements,
which, unlike speech protected by the First
Amendment, is considered commercial
speech.
The Supreme Court, however, has recognized
unpaid blog endorsements to be
given the same protection as noncommercial
speech. These aren’t the same as advertisements,
and any attempt to regulate these
endorsements would be a violation of the
First Amendment.
The article reads:
“Not all advertising constitutes commercial
speech, and not all commercial speech
takes the form of traditional advertisements
… some types of blogger endorsements are
clearly commercial speech … other types
of blogger endorsements are obviously not
commercial speech … the more difficult
question is whether an unpaid blogger
endorsement by a blogger who receives a
free sample product should be classified as
commercial speech … they are not conceded
to be advertising and do not have sufficient
‘economic motivation’ to justify classification
as commercial speech.”
The new disclosure rules are part of a
series of regulations the FTC passed last
year, which update the guidelines concerning
how endorsements and testimonials
are disclosed in U.S. advertising. The new
guidelines apply to all forms of advertising,
including broadcast, print and websites.
PR News Briefs
PR is 8th ‘most stressful’ job
PR professional ranked as the eighth most
stressful job in America, ahead of real estate
agent and advertising executive, in a study by
CareerCast.com.
CareerCast looked at 21 factors — including
three “mega factors”: work environment,
job competitiveness and risk — to score 200
professions based on stress level.
Topping the list was firefighter, followed by
senior corporate executive, taxi driver, surgeon,
police officer, pilot, and highway patrol
officer.
For PR officer, CareerCast noted they often
make speeches and presentations in front of
large crowds and work in a highly competitive
field that can have them in front of
“potentially hostile members of the media.”
CareerCast rated the PR profession “very
high” for competition with a work day averaging
nine hours.
CareerCast also measured the 10 least
stressful careers, a list topped by musical
instrument repairer and followed by medical
records technician, actuary, forklift operator
and appliance repairer.
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MAY 2010 WWW.ODWYERPR.COM