Some internet marketers are having difficulties getting their heads around the requirement for endorsements or testimonials to have ‘Typicality’ but the reality is that it is not that complex.
For example you have an information or ebook product which is endorsed by someone who states they made $40,000 in four weeks just by following the simple instructions.
The FTC will now only allow this endorsement if it is a ‘typical’ result. Otherwise the affiliate and or the product author can be fined $11,000 – which would put a dent into their supposedly rich pickings.
All the get rich quick nonsense being sold on the internet generally has a rash of endorsements, and now, even if the endorsement such as the one above is actually true, it cannot be run if it cannot be shown to be a typical result of a purchaser of a product.
Not unreasonable. If a car was said to do 80 miles to the gallon, but infact the manufacturer only sold a handful that managed that, and cut some manufacturing costs for the remainder, with the result that the great majority only managed 25 miles to the gallon – then the great majority of consumers would be ripped off.
The internet marketer might say that the purchaser has just not put enough effort in to it, if the purchaser did not get good results. It would be equivalent to the car manufacturer saying that the driver’s use of the accelerator was the cause of the problem. The great majority of internet marketers ebooks are pyramid schemes, pure and simple, and a very small minority at the top of the pyramid will always make a certain amount of money, and the majority never will. It is simple math, and the redistribution of money.
It seems that a number of internet marketers are upset about the FTC ‘Typicality’ ruling. Why? Because it will stop them from making easy money from the easily impressionable – ie what they do adds no value, and upsets people – no one likes the feeling of being conned, naïf, or seeming in retrospect, just plain stupid.
The FTC ruling makes good sense, and enforcing it will help clear the internet of some of the sharper operators. But it will be a challenge, and the non US perpertrators will still carry on with their schemes.
