Paid Blog Reviews Must Include 'Advertisement' Label in Title

Fair Trade Commission Issues Administrative Notice on Amendment to Recommendation Guarantee Review Guidelines

From now on, posts that have received economic compensation on blogs, internet cafes, and other platforms must indicate that they are advertisements in the title or at the beginning of the post so that consumers can easily recognize this.

On the 20th, the Fair Trade Commission announced that it will publicly notify the amendment to the "Guidelines on the Display and Advertising of Recommendations and Endorsements" until the 9th of next month, which includes these provisions.

This revision aims to prevent deceptive practices where the fact that a post is a paid advertisement is displayed unclearly or in inconspicuous places.

Until now, there have been many cases where the fact that a post is an advertisement was not displayed on the first screen where consumers can easily find it, but instead was shown only after clicking "See more," or displayed unclearly in the description or comments section, making it hard to notice.

The amendment first includes a regulation that, for text-based media such as blogs and internet cafes, the economic interest disclosure statement must be made in the title or at the beginning of the post.

The Fair Trade Commission explained the background of this guideline amendment, stating, "When recommendations or endorsements are made through text-based media, the economic interest disclosure statement is required to be posted at the beginning or end of the post. However, if it is disclosed at the end of a long post, consumers may find it difficult to recognize."

Under the current guidelines, video media such as YouTube are required to insert advertisement disclosure statements at the beginning and end of the video or display them repeatedly during the video.

The Fair Trade Commission also defined cases where economic compensation is received in the future or conditionally as "examples of when economic interests affect the reliability of the recommendation or endorsement."

Conditional or uncertain expressions such as "may receive a certain commission" imply that it may not be an advertisement, so they are specified as "examples of cases that do not correspond to clear content."

The Fair Trade Commission stated, "With this amendment to the guidelines, consumers will be able to more easily recognize product reviews as 'advertisements,' and advertisers and influencers will benefit from clearer guidelines, enhancing the effectiveness of the guidelines and predictability regarding legal violations."