To align more closely with the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines governing endorsements and testimonials, the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) has updated its Code of Ethics - the WOMMA Code. These guidelines help define best practices, unacceptable practices, and baseline rules for WOMMA, the leading voice for ethical and effective word of mouth and social media marketing.
WOMMA's Member Ethics Advisory Panel (MEAP) and its Board of Directors agreed to refine a section of the Code of Ethics to change the following statement:
We stand against marketing practices whereby the consumer is paid cash by the manufacturer, supplier or one of their representatives to make recommendations, reviews or endorsements.
And replace it with the following:
We stand against marketing practices whereby the marketer or its representatives provide goods, services or compensation to the consumer to make recommendations, reviews or endorsements without full, meaningful, and prominent disclosure.
As stated on WOMMA's Living Ethics Blog, the new guidelines were introduced because "there is an increasing industry demand to qualify and provide direction on what constitutes 'full, meaningful and prominent' disc
losure."
Because of the evolutionary nature of the digital landscape, WOMMA's Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct constitutes a "living document," which can change year-to-year, just as it did this year to comply with the FTC's new guidelines. WOMMA developed two policies that allow members and third parties to comment on the Code and Standards (an example of crowdsourcing of rules). The first component is an annual review process, which begins in November and ends in February of the immediate following year. This comment period is designed to be "transparent and inclusive, seeking thoughtful input and dialogue." The second policy is a review that "can be triggered by a petition concerning a specific issue to WOMMA's Executive Director by three members in good standing."
An open session on WOMMA's Code and Standards, which is a part of the formal review process, will be held at the WOMMA Summit, being held Nov. 18-20 in Las Vegas. In addition, the new disclosure guidelines will be formally unveiled at the Summit.
Any company that might have questions regarding the WOMMA Code, how it's enforced and how it should be used can view WOMMA's Ethics Assessment Toolkit. As a reminder, the FTC's new blogger disclosure guidelines take effect on December 1.
Tags: ftc, Social media, WOMMA, word of mouth marketing
