Complying With the FTC's Disclosure Requirements

If you have a relationship with a company that needs to be disclosed, then you should do so in a "clear and conspicuous" manner. Don't put it in small print or hide it away on a backwater page on your website. You want readers to easily notice the disclosure, and you want them to understand it. So make the disclosure clear and unambiguous so it can be understood by the average reader.

The form of the disclosure can be very simple. In a second FTC instructional video (embedded below), FTC staffer Mary Engle gives some examples of good disclosures:

• "ABC Company gave me this product to try."
• "XYZ Company sent me to their theme park to try it out for a day."

It is best to include your disclosure right along with your commentary or review. If you're a blogger, this means in the text of the blog post or in close proximity to it. You should also create a "disclosures and relationships" section on your blog or website to notify readers about relationships with companies you frequently blog about.

Some other media, like Twitter and Facebook, present more of a challenge, but not that much more. Here are some suggestions from Stacey Ferguson of the FTC (as reported on Rebecca Tushnet's blog) on how to handle disclosure in various other media:

• Video-sharing sites: put the disclosure in the video content and the description alongside.
• Social networks: put the disclosure in status updates and descriptions of photos/videos and create a "discosures and relationships" section on your profile.
• Twitter: use a hashtag within a tweet, such as #spon or #paid or #ad, plus create a "disclosures and relationships" section on the profile.

If you're unsure about your disclosure, consider the purpose of the disclosure requirement. The FTC is concerned about statements that look like personal recommendations or neutral reviews but are in fact advertisements. Think about your readers. Are you giving them the information they need to evaluate the credibility of your message?