FTC Transparency in Advertising

Hi there,

Long time no write! The reason was that we were really busy taking care of the existing websites in face of the new FTC rules/regulations about transparency in advertising. We have most of our major sites back on line, but less than half of our minor sites. From what I can see while surfing (not much time for that these days), we’re part of only about 5-10% of the publishers on the Internet who – as of this writing – have done anything at all! I have to say, I’m really surprised.

I thought that this new situation would cause a big ripple in online advertising short-term, with lots of contracts put out to modify websites on a wholesale basis. This, even though I really think that – eventually – the new stuff will become a common fixture and will be ignored just like the text on cigarette packages.

Anyway, we still have a number of sites off-line, pending the changes that WE think are necessary. The description of the notices that we are using as a working basis is that they should be as descriptive as if you were explaining to your 9-or 10-year-old child what they should know before, why they should (or should not) click on an advertising link, and what happens when they do.

I don’t think this is – in general – a bad idea, but it came upon us very suddenly, and we’re still reeling from the effort involved to get all the sites redone. Actually, it also pointed out some of our sites that really needed a complete re-do in any case, and those are (obviously, I hope) still off line.

If you’re interested, here is a link to a summary of FTC publications concerning advertising guidance for publishers in various types of media – this is not an advertising link, and it leads to a USA government website – http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/guides/guides.shtm . Use your browser’s “back” button to come back here.

The FTC shows a lot of information, including many examples in the first booklet listed, “Dot Com Disclosures: Information About Online Advertising [PDF]” at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/ecommerce/bus41.pdf but that is only the tip of the iceberg as far as we can see. If you have any questions about this stuff, I’m sorry, but please do NOT ask us. We are not even located in the USA, so for us to give any specific advice would be foolish on our part for giving it and foolish on your part for accepting it!

If you are in our business (and also many others that are similarly affected), all we can say at this point is, “Good Luck!”

Thanks for looking in,

Craig
for
Jimmy Craig Websites

FTC Transparency in Advertising