Going Native

Native advertisements represent not only an increasingly popular and effective means of promotion for marketers, it also represents a massive headache for the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC").  Native advertising, also known as corporate content or branded journalism, is marketing material that is designed to mimic the look and feel of the host website. While the look of native advertisements differs depending on the host website, the underlying goal for marketers is the same – make the advertisement look and feel like editorial content.

This purposeful "blurring" of advertising and host content increases the risk of deceiving consumers and presents a challenge for the FTC, whose primary duty is to protect consumers from false and misleading advertising. In an effort to fully understand the issues surrounding this new style of digital marketing, the FTC hosted a workshop last December, adeptly entitled "Blurred Lines". The workshop identified two competing interests