Last updated in 1980, long before the Internet was mainstream, the notice introduces key changes to the FTC's Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. The guides address endorsements by consumers, experts, organizations and celebrities, as well as the disclosure of important connections between advertisers and endorsers.

Results Must Be Typical

Under the revised guides, advertisements that feature consumers or consumer experiences with products and services must be clear about typical results. For example, if the endorsement features stellar results -- but those results are not common -- the advertiser will be required to clearly disclose the results that consumers can generally expect.

By contrast, the 1980 version of the guides allowed advertisers to describe unusual results in a testimonial as long as they included a disclaimer such as "results not typical." The bottom line: The revised guides no longer contain this safe harbor.

What's more, the revised guides offer new examples to illustrate a long-standing FTC principle that "material connections" (read: payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers must be disclosed. These examples specifically address what constitutes an endorsement when the message is conveyed by bloggers or other "word-of-mouth" marketers.

Defining Endorsement

Although decisions will be reached on a case-by-case basis, a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement -- and bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the connections they share with the seller of the product or service .

Likewise, if a company refers in an advertisement to the findings of a research organization that conducted research sponsored by the company, the advertisement must disclose the connection between the advertiser and the research organization. And a paid endorsement -- like any other advertisement -- is deceptive if it makes false or misleading claims.

Finally, celebrity endorsers are not immune in the new guides. The 1980 guides did not explicitly state that endorsers as well as advertisers could be liable under the FTC act for statements they make in an endorsement. However, the revised guides reflect commission case law and clearly state that both advertisers and endorsers may be liable for false or unsubstantiated claims made in an endorsement -- or for failure to disclose material connections between the advertiser and endorsers. The revised guides also make it clear that celebrities have a duty to disclose their relationships with advertisers when making endorsements outside the context of traditional ads, such as on talk shows or in social media.

Enforcing the Rules

Although the FTC is updating the guides, the government is still operating under the assumption that the world works the way it did in 1980, noted Brad Shimmin, an analyst at Current Analysis. He loosely compared the FTC effort to the music industry's attempt to scare teenagers into buying legitimate music downloads rather than pirating through peer-to-peer networks.

"When you are talking about the consumer world at large and all the ShamWow endorsers out there, there is no real long-term ramifications for folks that may be lying about their allegiances," Shimmin said. "Because of that, they are more likely to engage in something that the FTC should be concerned about, but I don't see how they are going to enforce the guidelines. They may make an example out of some, but it's going to be difficult to stop."