FTC: Viral ties must be disclosed
by Zack Stern 
{ Dec 12th 2006 at 5:55PM }
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission yesterday said that companies must disclose ties in word-of-mouth marketing campaigns. These fake grass-roots efforts -- dubbed "astroturfing" by critics -- hire people to endorse products as themselves, rather than as company representatives.The FTC didn't announce any specific action or fines against this type of misleading marketing, although it may investigate campaigns on a case-by-case basis. The Washington Post covers the story.
Gamers see these sorts of campaigns all the time, from fake commentors who are actually paid marketers to the recent fake-PSP-fan weblog. While this kind of hidden corporate sponsorship makes us distrustful, we think better of companies, like Ubisoft, that disclose ties to its affiliates like the Frag Dolls. We most like the Major Nelson-type relationships, where a weblog spokesperson and a company are obviously linked.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
lazy @ Dec 12th 2006 6:05PM
waaitt.
how is major nelson linked to microsoft? wtf?
crono141 @ Dec 12th 2006 6:07PM
I guess shagi will have to end all of his posts with:
This message paid by Sony
Stephen @ Dec 12th 2006 6:24PM
I don't know if it will do any good, but having the FTC scare these companies is a good thing.
Exick @ Dec 12th 2006 6:22PM
It was probably only a matter of time.
Rubang @ Dec 12th 2006 6:23PM
I...
love Shagi.
Defenestrator2.0 @ Dec 12th 2006 6:32PM
Hahaha. Nice one, crono. That sure knocked him down a few pegs.
Ben Furfie @ Dec 12th 2006 7:11PM
@ Lazy...
He's the Director of Xbox Live
SuicideNinja @ Dec 12th 2006 7:15PM
"I guess shagi will have to end all of his posts with:
This message paid by Sony"
No way. Sony is Japanese.
So just like the ridiculously modded import cars in the U.S., his posts need to be:
Powered by Sony.
Just in case you forgot, or the logo on the side isn't prominent enough. ;)
ciscomaner @ Dec 12th 2006 7:40PM
Ben Furfie will have to go by his alter ego Captain Obvious.
Turken @ Dec 12th 2006 7:56PM
It's nice that the FTC is getting involved and all... but do they have the power to fine companies for advertisements that insult the audience and assault the senses as much as this recet sony **** did? Sure would be nice if somebody was severly punished for all the pain inflicted.
rogue @ Dec 12th 2006 7:56PM
I dunno... with trash like the recent PSP website, a disclaimer would be nice. But I think it could hurt things that are really clever beyond the marketing appeal (such as i love bees).
I am more interested in how they plan on enforcing this kind of thing. More companies than you probably imagine hire people to do nothing but "live" on forums and message boards as and masquerade as someone else to build up trust over time and then subtly favor a particular product(s). Doing it this way you may not even suspect the person is astroturfing, and how can you really find out? How does the FTC plan to investigate these things? See the Escapist: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/62/4
Martin @ Dec 13th 2006 8:15AM
Honestly, the way that PSP video is going to cause millions to return their PSP for something less patheticly advertised, who cares about the PSP blog.