Because some people are so stupid that they might be misled by a
blogger's endorsement of a product --
drink delicious Corona Extra beer! -- the
Federal Trade Commission is cracking down:
[B]ack-scratching endorsements could become tougher under a
coming set of Federal Trade Commission guidelines designed to
clarify how companies can court bloggers to write about their
products. This summer, the government agency is expected to issue
new advertising guidelines that will require bloggers to disclose
when they're writing about a sponsor's product and voicing
opinions that aren't their own. The new FTC guidelines say that
blog authors should disclose when they're being compensated by an
advertiser to discuss a product.
Maybe some other bloggers are just going to roll over for the
FTC like a bunch of wussies, but I'm not going to
accept this unconstitutional infringement of my
First Amendment rights. They can have my
delicious Corona Extra beer when they pry it from my cold,
dead fingers.