You won’t find paid reviews on this site.
And that was true even before the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) decided to update/enforce the FTC Act of 1980.
Bloggers are now required to disclose freebies sent to them–if they review those freebies on their blogs–or payment they have received for reviews. It’s called truth in advertising.
There’s an $11,000.00 fine being thrown around by those who are up in arms over this update. However, the FTC states that the $11,000.00 fine is a worst-case scenario where the blogger would have been warned, refused to comply, and then a serious product defect been discovered in the product(s) the blogger was promoting/reviewing.
There is no monetary penalty for the first offense even in the worst case, according to the FTC. And their focus is going to be on the advertisers: are they giving the bloggers education about the products, are they monitoring what the bloggers are saying, and is what the bloggers are saying true?
Personally, this blog is not about reviewing products or freebies.
Every product I’ve mentioned in previous posts is either something I have paid for or have prior knowledge of (for example, the reference to Bagel Bites in “Safeway and The Single Girl” falls under the prior knowledge disclaimer since I’ve shopped for, paid for, prepared, and eaten Bagel Bites in the past).
Given the fact that this blog/blogger runs Google Ad Sense ads, I’m not even willing to put other affiliate programs–including but not limited to Pay Per Click, Search Engine Optimization, Share-A-Sale, Amazon– on the pages or in my posts.
If I have a need to run ads/banners for programs that I even think might upset Google, I have another blog that I can monetize more safely than I can this one.
All you will find on this blog is the honest comments and opinions of an opinionated, impatient, blunt, liberal, overweight, assertive, 50-year-old woman who has paid for every product she mentions.
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