Native Advertising (A.K.A. Sponsored Content) Gets Noticed… This Article Is Sponsored By Bereskin & Parr

The US Federal Trade Commission is taking aim at native advertising and sponsored content. On December 4th, the FTC will be hosting a workshop to examine the blurring of digital ads with digital content. In advance of the workshop, the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) updated its Guidelines for Editors and Publishers by adding a new section to address native advertising. The new section states that native advertising should be prominently labeled as advertising, and the source of the sponsor and affiliation of the author should be clearly acknowledged. The term "Sponsor Content" can be used to label native advertising. There should be a prominent statement or scroll over notice explaining that the sponsor paid for publication of the content. The content should be distinguishable from editorial content, and for example, not use similar fonts and graphics, and be visually separated from editorial content. Certain types of native advertising used to be referred