FTC's Guidelines, Schmidelines...and why Celebrity Parents Strictly Follows Them

Late last year, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published new guidelines for bloggers regarding "truth in journalism". They created strict terms for bloggers to reveal if they were being compensated and/or receiving free gifts and products to write favorable posts and reviews. This way, readers would know if a writer's review was a true reflection of their own feelings, or biased based upon receiving free swag.

Now, Celebrity Parents Magazine is just that: a magazine. We are NOT a blog. However, we felt a need to clarify the FTC's guidelines, how they relate to Celebrity Parents and why we do strictly follow their regulations. 

Here is a breakdown of some of the FTC's guidelines and Celebrity Parents' adherence and some FAQ's:

1- The FTC requires that writers state if they are being compensated for a review.

Celebrity Parents prides itself on following the highest levels of unbiased journalism. Therefore, we NEVER accept payment for a review.

2- The FTC requires that writers state if they received free gifts in exchange for a review.

Celebrity Parents does not accept gifts for a favorable review.

3- The FTC requires that writers state if they receive free products.

Celebrity Parents DOES require that all products must be sent in for review. We will not write a review based on a press release (otherwise known as a "write-around"). Before we can write a fair review, we must first see/taste/test/touch/read/play with the product. 

FAQ:

1- What do you do with the products after you've reviewed them?

Celebrity Parents donates the products to the appropriate venue. Books are donated to libraries, as are music CD's. Clothes are given to shelters. Food is, well, eaten.

2- What if you receive a product for review and you don't like it? Will you write a negative review?

Every day, Celebrity Parents receives hundreds of requests for product reviews. However, the magazine has very high standards for screening new products. It must be a product that fits our demographic of upscale, intelligent and sophisticated parents. Therefore, we only choose items to review that we feel would be beneficial to our readers. Upon selecting an item for possible inclusion in Celebrity Parents, we request that it be sent to us for further review. After testing it (depending on what the item is), then we will write an honest, fact-based review, including the good, the bad and the ugly.

Having said that, if we receive a product and feel that it is very poorly crafted, does not actually suit our demographic, or just all around tanks, we would rather not run a review than to write one that is completely negative.

*If you need to refer to this information again, please scroll down to the bottom of the homepage and click on the cute little I Disclose! button.

3- How can our company contact you to see if you will review our product?

Please send an email to our Editor-in-Chief, Jennifer Parris at jennifer@celebrityparentsmag.com. After reviewing your email, a staff member will send you a link to our Product Submission Guidelines. There you will find all the information you will need to submit your product to Celebrity Parents Magazine. 

*Please remember that product submissions are by Invitation Only.

Special thanks to Jeannine Schafer for the cute illos.