Ann Taylor Dodges a Bullet

Ann Taylor certainly lucked out when the FTC decided not to take any actions against it when it created an ostensibly pay-for-play program with some bloggers that it wanted to cover the 2010 Ann Taylor Loft collection. For a blog review posted within 24 hours of the event, Ann Taylor offered to activate a "mystery" gift card worth anywhere from $50 to $500.

This promotion caused a lot of controversy in the marketing world, and everyone figured Ann Taylor would come under the FTC's microscope after the FTC issued their new blogging guidelines last fall. By offering this sort of deal, they did two things wrong. First, they didn't urge the bloggers quite enough to disclose the nature of the relationship. Second, it seems they didn't create the paper trail required by the FTC when forging this sort of outreach with bloggers.

So, the cat's out of the bag now. No one can play dumb anymore, because the FTC won't buy it. Any brands looking to do blogger outreach and any bloggers on the receiving end will need to read up on and follow these new guidelines. That means formal disclosure and a trackable paper trail of said disclosure. Anyone who wants a simple solution to this problem should check out CMP.LY.