Getting Legal!
It’s not often what I read in my Google Reader and on the BBC News site combine to make me think about something and read both of the articles twice!
You might think this story is funny, in that a Lonely Planet writer did not even visit one of the countries he wrote about (although Lonely Planet are quick to ensure they have reviewed his contributions and have found no inaccuracies).
Mr Kohnstamm revealed this whilst publicising his new book “Do Travel Writers Go To Hell?”, in which he talks about his travels around South America selling drugs and enjoying casual sex, sometimes in places he was writing about!
So what does that all have to do with stuff that I’m reading in Google Reader (not my normal subject matter I hear you say!), Andy Beard posted some interesting points in his (extremely long but) imaginatively titled post, UK Consumer Protection Unfair Trading Regulations That Might Affect Advertising, Links, Affiliates & Product Launches , he makes some fine points about:
- Sales letters that may close at a given price after a set period of time (I for one would be glad to see the back of them!!).
- Affiliates making clear that you are promoting a product for monetary gain, without clearly labeling it as an ‘Advertising Feature’ or ‘Advertorial’.
- Calling something free when you have to make another purchase to actually get it free (all those bonuses!)
- Giving the impression that you are something else (are you just an average guy making a fortune or is there a whole team of “you”).
- Misleading stats (make sure that stats package is accurate if you’re reporting those figures!).
This is amongst other things, that could affect marketers and how honest they are, testimonials, split pricing, delivering real proof and, above all, disclosure!
Read the guidance on the new regulations here, note that it only appears to cover “trader” to consumer regulations (and not business to business transactions).
Whilst Andy is concerned he might be reading too much into this document, Tim Nash has produced a guide to legal notices that you almost certainly should follow - I’m writing mine as we speak!
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