The crackdown continues. The Federal Trade Commission recently released revised (read: stricter) guidelines governing endorsements and testimonials for advertisers to follow if they want to stay in line with the FTC Act. (Hey, who doesn’t?)
While I haven’t included all the changes the FTC made (you’ll have to go to the website referenced at the end of this blog for that), you can clearly see the direction the FTC took.
In a nutshell, the guidance — which is interpretation of the law and not in itself binding — requires advertisers to disclose whether anyone making endorsements or testimonials on their behalf, celebrity or otherwise, has material connections (cash or in-kind payment) to the company. Although device manufacturers aren’t exactly known for hiring celebrity endorsers, they do make use of physician consultants offering testimonials. And as with many other industries, device companies are also courting bloggers to obtain favorable mentions. The new guidelines address this quickly growing trend as well, stating that bloggers must disclose whether they too have material connections to any company for whom they review a product.
That just makes sense in this cynical age, as does another new ruling that stipulates that if a consumer or patient is featured in promotional materials and his or her experience is atypical, the advertiser must clearly disclose what “typical” results may be. The old standby, “Results not typical,” in play since the FTC interpreted the law back in 1980, will no longer suffice. In other words, no more cherry-picking of data.
While the latest interpretations reflect a general crackdown on medical marketing practices, the silver lining is that the feds are forcing us to do something we should be doing anyway: Bringing medical marketing folks and medical sales professionals closer together. For when marketers cherry-pick data and place what appears to be a very effective ad, the sales rep is left to explain to a very inquisitive doc what the actual data says. I’ve long thought that “actual results may vary” is a throw-away line that does more harm than good in a market where reproducibility is everything. Tell me what is typical; tell me what to expect; don’t tease out the data so that you’re doing what one oncologist once told me he regarded as “twisting the truth.”
We live in skeptical times and we are overrun with celebrities. Full disclosure could actually be a powerful marketing weapon, as long as your data’s good. And if it isn’t, why are you going to market? As for physician testimonials, consider the old fundraising adage: If you want advice, ask for money; if you want money, ask for advice. In other words, if you want nonpaid endorsements, court your critics. Ask physicians for honest feedback. Take the negative feedback into consideration; ask permission to publish the positives. No money or product changes hands. Take the high road.
The upshot? In cracking down on testimonials, the FTC may actually be lifting us up and doing us all a favor. That may sound naïve to some, but mark my words: Something’s changing out there and naïve may be the new clever.
You’ll find the text of the revised guidelines as well as answers to frequently asked questions here.
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