The effect of the Federal Trade Commission’s proposed changes to its Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials on word–of–mouth advertising is drawing increased attention and comments from those in the advertising industry. The FTC proposal includes changes that would make word–of–mouth marketers, bloggers, and people on social–media sites like Facebook liable for any false statements they make about a product they are promoting, along with the marketer of the product. This change, if passed, could impact the growth of word–of–mouth marketing; PQ Media currently estimates that marketers will spend $3.7 billion on such marketing in 2011.

Another aspect of the FTC’s proposed changes related to word–of–mouth marketers is the addition of an example featuring a blogger to illustrate the requirement that any material connection between a marketer and an endorser be fully disclosed. In the proposed new example, a blogger, who writes a favorable review of a video game he received free of charge from a manufacturer, must disclose his receipt of the free game.

While there are some who argue that the proposed changes to the guidelines would simply put bloggers in the same category as celebrities and others who are compensated in the more traditional context of paid ads and infomercials to promote or review a product, comments submitted to the FTC by a number of trade associations argue that the changes would result in bloggers being treated differently than traditional media. For example, comments jointly submitted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Advertising Federation noted that advertisers have often provided products for review at no cost to the reviewer, and that they are not required to disclose this information in traditional media.

In its comment filed with the agency, the American Association of Advertising Agencies wrote that it "strongly urges the commission to reconsider the proposed, overly stringent amendments that will likely result in advertisers abandoning long–standing legitimate advertising techniques, such as consumer testimonials, and rejecting new media forms, such as blogs and viral marketing." Supporters of the proposed regulations counter that the rules could give more credibility to word–of–mouth and social–media marketing by underscoring the fact that they are providing objective, truthful, and honest opinions from real users.