There seems to be some concern about that the upcoming changes to the Federal Trade Commission’s act regarding endorsements and testimonials. With the included changes to this act it will include bloggers to disclose whatever personal items they did receive from the company based on a review. Now to say everyone gets free games to review might not be the case, because in most cases bloggers or community sites tend to pay for products out of their own pocket for review.
So I am really not seeing the concern that everyone will have to state what free products they received from companies unless you are being persuaded to write something different then you would because of a few free gifts. Fair warning if you want to become a blogger or journalist just for the free stuff, you are in the wrong place.
For me personally disclosing what I have received as a gift or a copy of a game to review will not change my thoughts and my processing of information as I write my review. My words are my own and I feel like if people are starting to worry about this, then those are the people that are taking bribes for the work that they do. People who take bribes or free gifts for their opinion should not be blogging or doing journalism.
I take the work that I do very seriously and will not compromise that for a few free gifts. I put pride in my work and would hope that everyone does the same. The only free thing that I would want is the respect of my peers, which is something that is priceless to me.
Just so everyone understands where I am coming from, no matter what is given to me I will always give you the most honest review, answer to a question, or feedback. Honesty will get you far in life and lying and cheating might get you far enough, but eventually you will be caught for it.
The honest feedback that you give to people should be taken seriously and be used to improve the product or game. So always ask questions if you have them and give the critical feedback when something is asked of you.
Here is the link to the article for the Federal Trade Commission Act
FTC Publishes Final Guides Governing Endorsements, Testimonials
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