Guidelines for adhering to the FTC requirements:
– Disclosures should be clear and concise.
– Disclosures must be made at the beginning of the claims and prior to the affiliate link appearing.
– Pop-ups, hover state and button disclosures are prohibited. Blanket disclosures that are posted in a separate section of your website will not suffice – they must be specific to the claim being made.
– Disclosures should be made in the same medium as the claim (e.g. video, text) and applies to all social media, even when space is constrained.
Helpful Tips:
– Ultimately, a disclosure should be “unavoidable”.
– Ask yourself: Would an average reader understand that there is a monetary relationship between you and Carbonite?? If not, it is likely that changes need to be made to the language included in the disclosure or the positioning.
Sample FTC disclosures:
– Blog Post (without receiving additional fee or bonus for posting review): This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.
– Blog Post (while receiving additional fee or bonus for posting review): I was compensated for this post. This post also contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.
– Social Media Post/Space Constrained Ads: #ad or #sponsored
It is important to note that these are our own interpretations based on our understanding of the FTC and affiliate marketing, and should not be used as legal advice. For further clarification, we recommend reviewing the information provided in the below links or reaching out to the FTC directly:
– FTC’s “Dot Com Disclosures” Guidelines:
www.ftc.gov/os/2013/03/
– FTC’s Endorsement Guidelines:
http://business.ftc.gov/