Blog with Integrity - It's what the FTC wants you to do.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. I don't even play one on TV. I did want to be a lawyer once, and married a cop who went to law school. Which, in this case, is irrelevant.

In other words, you should not mistake my opinion(s) for legal advise. And, the FTC is not compensating me in any way for this blog.

I've been tangentially following the changes the FTC is making which require bloggers to disclose when they receive compensation to review a product or provide an endorsement or otherwise push a product or agenda. There is a pretty good article here (on Fast Company) which includes questions and comments from the Media as well as the FTC chair Richard Cleland's responses.

Unless Mr. Cleland is lying in his responses - I think the sentiment (if not the actual wording which you can read here) of the mandate is spot on.

If you are compensated for your review or endorsement - tell your readers.

My question to you fellow (and much more famous) bloggers is this - why wouldn't you? In the humble opinion of this blogger, mom, wife, consumer and marketer - it's dishonest not to. As a consumer, especially as a mommy consumer - I want to know if you've received compensation to provide a review - I want to know if your review could be tainted. Compensation (in any form) could taint the review.

If you've simply been given a product for free in hopes that you'd review it - tell us that, too. I am much more a consumer than a blogger - and I do buy items occassionally based on bloggers or other sites  - like this product which I found though this site. Curious whether or not these Cool Moms were/are compensated for their reviews, I checked out their "About" page and found this:

If you have an idea or a cool client or own a company yourself, feel free to send it our way at info@coolmompicks.com. You can find more info on submissions here.

I would have purchased the Lunch Punch anyway - I liked the store and my son hates crust on his sandwiches. Did the Cool Moms receive the Lunch Punch for free? In short - I don't care.

Seriously, I don't care if you got the item for free to review it, or even if you subsequently endorse it. I do care if you lie - even by omission. Be forthright and your reviews are far more powerful, if you don't you'll look like you're being bought, and all the FTC regulations in the world won't bring your readers back if you break their trust.