So, what's an FTC Disclaimer you ask, good question...
The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) wants online content creators (e.g. Bloggers and YouTuber's) to include disclaimers stating whether or not products that appear or are featured in the content were paid-for as an advertisement or whether they were bought for personal use.
For example, if a YouTuber drinks Coca-Cola in their video, they should provide a disclaimer that the appearance of Coca-Cola was not a paid advertisement by the Coca-Cola company.
However, if Coca-Cola did actually pay the YouTuber to show the drink in their video, the disclaimer should instead disclose the fact that that the appearance of Coca-Cola was a sponsored advertisement.
The most important thing is to disclose when you are using/reviewing a product that you have been paid to use (or have been given as a gift by the company who makes the product). By not disclosing this information, you are essentially taking a bribe (i.e. we will give you money if you pretend to use our product in your video).
The problem is that when you watch a YouTube video (for example), you don't expect there to be any commercial sponsorship, and you assume that the YouTuber is genuine and has bought the products for their personal use (such as for make-up tutorial videos), but unfortunately some companies are abusing this trust and basically exploiting children on YouTube by paying them to endorse only their product and to make it look good, a product which the YouTuber may not even like or want to use.
The viewers (which are also mostly children) are watching these videos and they believe the YouTuber's are actually buying and using the products for themselves and therefore falsely conclude that the products must be good because the YouTuber's say they are. In turn, those kids go out and buy lots of the advertised product to be like the YouTuber, having no idea that they've fallen victim to a clever corporate marketing trick.
So basically the FTC decision helps introduce disclosure of paid sponsorships so that consumers of the content are aware that they are basically watching a commercial advertisement with paid, not real, endorsement.
FTC Disclaimer: I was not sent any of these products. I am not affiliated with the companies mentioned. All opinions are my own. I am not being sponsored to make this video.
