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From the FTC to the NFL: The Rules of Social Media
To ensure a higher level of truthfulness and transparency, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released its revised Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (“the Guides”). The 81-page Guides, effective December 1, 2009, are particularly relevant for bloggers and those who use social media to promote, discuss or endorse products. Anyone who endorses a product and fails to disclose his or her relationship to the brand could be face fines up to $11,000. The companies providing the products could also be subjected to these penalties.To protect their athletic organizations, the NFL, NBA and many universities have written social media policies that specifically prohibit their players from posting on social media sites during games, or face possible fines. These rules presumably help these entities deter individuals within from the unauthorized endorsement of products, thus avoiding potential penalties under the revised Guides. Moreover, such league policies curtail other unwanted behavior. The NBA prohibits the use of cell phones, PDA’s and other electronic devices during games for players, coaches and other team personnel involved in the game. The NBA defines “during the game” as 45 minutes before the opening tip to the time after the players and coaches have made themselves available to the media in the postgame locker room. Milwaukee Bucks’ rookie guard Brandon Jennings was fined $7,500 for posting a message on his Twitter account about his team’s win against the Portland Trail Blazers on December 12, 2009. Similarly, the NFL’s social media policy prohibits the use of social media 90 minutes prior to kick-off through the end of postgame locker room media interviews. The league’s policy includes all players, coaches, football operations personnel or any third party representatives. This past August, the San Diego Chargers fined defensive back Antonio Cromartie $2,500 for complaining about the food at training camp on July 31 via Twitter.
Evidently, athletes may want to brush up on their team and league rules regarding the use of social media. In today’s “online” world, every organization, whether it’s a business or an athletic association, should take the initiative and develop a social media policy that will protect it and its members or employees. Such guidelines, however, need to be crystal clear to avoid any confusion, specifically about what is unacceptable. The penalties for violations can be perceived as far-reaching, so the more clarity the better.
The views and opinions expressed in this blog post are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion or position of Concepts & Strategies, Inc.
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