Automotive IRM Zealots Could Be Fined

Car dealers who have an over zealous Internet Sales Manager or Automotive Internet Reputation Management consult on retainer could be facing some big fines.

Auto dealership sales and marketing managers should read the FTC rules that will apply to all consumer reviews and endorsements that are used in advertising starting December 2009. This ruling applies to blogs, review websites, dealer websites, emails, videos, and the list goes on.

If you use customer testimonials to market your business, you must read the FTC rules start will be in effect in just 3 months.

FTC Endorsement Guidelines

The FTC ruling was published in a PDF document called: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising” . The 81 page volume, outlines the rules and stiff penalties for business owners and consumers who post reviews without disclosing certain facts.

I would advise all business owners and consumers to read the document. Click on this link to download the PDF document created by the FTC: FTC Endorsement Guidelines .

The treatise is an exhaustive discussion on how the FTC addressed the concerns of bloggers and free speech to come up with their guidelines for this new law.

Be Careful With Automotive Reputation Management (IRM)

This FTC document is extremely important for car dealers who have active Automotive IRM campaigns in place to encourage their customers to post a review on websites like DealerRater.com, Yelp.com, InsiderPages.com and Edmunds.com.

Some dealers offer the clients a free oil change or a free car wash for taking the time to post a review. Under this new law, the consumer who makes a post would have to disclose that they were compensated for the review. Also, if dealers post testimonials on their own website, they will have to disclose if any gifts and free services were given to anyone they list on the testimonials page.

Employees of car dealership who purchase a car at their dealership and post a review must disclose that they are an employee of the dealership when posting a review. Dealers who post reviews on behalf of fictitious people or for other people may be facing stiff fines for these actions.

After you read this document, it makes you wonder how this will affect the consumer attitude about posting reviews. Will it really stop false testimonials and endorsements that appear to be unbiased?

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Tags: december 2009 ftc, ftc endorsement law, ftc testimonials law