The full Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulation Act 2008 can be found in PDF form at: http://www.oft.gov.uk / shared_oft / business_leaflets / 530162 / oft931int.pdf
The two significant paragraphs follow:
Paragraph 11, Section 1: Using editorial content in the media to promote a product where a trader has paid for the promotion without making that clear in the content or by images or sounds clearly identifiable by the consumer (advertorial).
Paragraph 22, Section 1: Falsely claiming or creating the impression that the trader is not acting for purposes relating to his trade, business, craft or profession, or falsely representing oneself as a consumer.
How does the upgrade Act affect digital marketing?
Viral marketing
It is certainly true that forms of buzz marketing where marketers and their agents deliberately pose as satisfied customers will become illegal. The IPA has published an introduction and briefing note here: http://www.ipa.co.uk / Content / Buzz-marketing-techniques-illegal-from-May-warns-IPA-
Virals which rely solely on the target audience to spread the meme remain legal.
Affiliates (affiliate marketing)
Some affiliate activities will be significantly impacted by the updated Act. In particular affiliates who generate leads through fake reviews, staged comparisons or advertorials may now find themselves in breach of the Act and may place their merchants in breach of the Act.
Bigmouthmedia highly recommends fully managed affiliate campaigns which remove and block affiliates who engage in this - or any other illegal - activity.
Article Submissions (search engine optimisation)
Many article sites have writing guidelines and editorial rules which prohibit commercial messaging. Articles can address trader specific issues directly if it is clear that the author is not a consumer.
To ensure full compliance with the updated Act bigmouthmedia will contribute articles only to sites which allow appropriate disclosure.
Bigmouthmedia has never used article submissions as a method of creating false or misleading reviews or testimonials.
Community participation (social media)
Bigmouthmedia has always operated under a full disclosure policy on blogs and forums. The updates to the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations Act illustrate why such a strict policy is needed.
Bigmouthmedia will continue to act appropriately in social communities; by only utilizing the communities when allowed by the community, by contributing to the community as a whole, appropriately and fully disclosed and closely following the community's terms and conditions.
Directory submissions (search engine optimisation)
Directory submissions are not impacted by the new Act. Directories are either hierarchical catalogues of links without commentary or catalogues which carry descriptions of sites that are clearly marked as originating from the contributing website.
Many of the most worthwhile directories prohibit the use of superlatives or sales speech for site submissions.
Paid Links and Reviews (search engine optimisation, social media)
Bigmouthmedia has never engaged in buying links or reviews. The updated Act will make buying non-disclosed reviews - whether they contain links intended for search engine optimisation or not - illegal. Paid for reviews are often part of an unethical search engine optimisation campaign as the reviews contain links back to the trader/optimised site.
Links which appear in a website's navigation, not in association with a review or apparent editorial comment, are not likely to be covered by the updated Act but remain against Google's guidelines and may be against industry specific advertising rules such as those the FSA imposes on finance sites.
Press releases (search engine optimisation, social media and affiliate marketing)
Press releases are entirely unaffected by the updated Act as they clearly originate from the trader. Business to business press releases are not covered by the Act in the first instance.
Shopping search engines (paid search, search engine optimisation)
Inclusion in a shopping search engine is not classified as creating an advertorial or acting as a consumer. Some shopping search engines make use of reviews and should be reviewed to ensure that there is an appropriate distance between the review and the shopping comparison link.
Social bookmarking (search engine optimisation, social media)
Many social bookmarking sites only allow a binary contribution to the community; the link is either bookmarked or it is not. As no opinion or review of the site is offered there is no risk of misleading information being supplied to the consumer.
Some social bookmarking sites allow a short review, description or star rating summary of the site. Bigmouthmedia will use these sites appropriately; always obeying the unique terms and conditions of the social community, always operating under a fully disclosed profile and omitting commentary or review where appropriate.
Social news communities (social media)
Social news communities - like Digg - allow users to contribute and vote for news or blog posts that they like. Some of these communities have policies which prohibit content producers adding their own content to the community; it must be added by a third party.
Bigmouthmedia strongly believes in following the terms and conditions of each community. Only sites which allow contributor profiles that support appropriate disclosure are used.
Yahoo Search Submit (paid search, search engine optimisation)
Yahoo Search Submit and Search Submit Pros allows bigmouthmedia to supply URLs to Yahoo for inclusion in Yahoo's organic rankings. This is a commercial submission for which Yahoo charges an upfront fee for, followed by an additional cost per click.
Yahoo clearly states that the SSP program simply provides URLs for inclusion and that the URLs receive no further promotion in the organic results at that time. In addition there is no suggestion that Yahoo's organic search algorithm is a consumer making recommendations of traders. It is therefore understood that Yahoo Search Submit and Search Submit Pro are not covered by the updated Act.
