Interesting. I don't recall ever seeing ads for Air Jordans claim that Michael Jorden was compensated for his appearance in the commericials or for the use of his likeness in the logo. Or the disclaimer that Larry Bird and MJ both didn't sit around eating french fries and making impossible shots, on camera, for money (feeling old today
). You kinda already knew that, didn't you? And when you heard "I was not paid for this endorsement", you thought "yeah, but you probably were fellated a few times and got lots of free product", right?
It seems pretty odd that there would be a law about this - you build trust or you don't with your blog and how you run it. If you lose trust you'll lose readers. That's the biggest punishment of all, if you make your living from your blog. You don't need lawmakers to jump in onm that.
And here's the funniest part - about two weeks ago, for the first time I got paid to put up a blog entry I didn't write, and I was so excited I just copied and pasted and happily stuffed the cash into my Paypal pocket. Didn't even think about warning readers (this offer came out of the blue - like pennies from heaven - who questions that?). Looks like I better put up a disclaimer (way down low, in the fine, fine print
). My wife probably wouldn't be ok with the other form of 'payment'.