• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, January 25, 2010

The Direct Marketing Association has revised its ethics guidelines to incorporate the Federal Trade Commission's new guides to endorsements and testimonials.

The new DMA principles require marketers who use testimonials or endorsements on social networking sites, blogs and other types of social media to "clearly and conspicuously disclose any material connections between the endorser and marketer, which the consumer would not expect."

In addition, marketers should ensure that any celebrity endorsers disclose their relationships with marketers when touting products on talk shows or in social media, according to the DMA's revised ethics guides.

The trade group's new ethics rules largely track the FTC's recent revisions to its endorsements guidelines. That update stirred considerable controversy, with critics arguing that the new guidelines make arbitrary distinctions between traditional and newer forms of media. For instance, the FTC said that bloggers should disclose the receipt of free review copies, but didn't make that same recommendation for critics who write for mainstream media.

An FTC official later fueled even more debate by reportedly saying that celebrity endorsers might not have to disclose relationships to marketers because many consumers understand that celebrities often get swag. This issue came up recently when the actress Gwyneth Paltrow touted La Mamounia Hotel in Marrakesh, Morocco on her blog Goop.

For now, the DMA isn't addressing some of the thornier questions, including what constitutes a "material connection" and what types of marketer-blogger connections would consumers expect. But Senny Boone, senior vice president for corporate and social responsibility at the organization, says the group intends to issue case studies and examples within the next few months.