Guidelines For Sponsored Content And Native Advertising

"Native advertising" has become popular with advertisers and publishers, but it has raised concerns by the Federal Trade Commission and NAD, the advertising self-regulatory organization, and spawned lawsuits by content owners and persons referenced or depicted. It is important to understand the legal issues and risks before jumping on the bandwagon.

There are many definitions of native advertising. Essentially, it is content items paid for by an advertiser that relate to the brand or products or services and, as the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) puts it, "are so cohesive with the page content, assimilated into the design, and consistent with the platform behavior that the viewer simply feels that they belong." For advertisers, there are two key issues of concern: (1) will the sponsored content be treated under advertising and consumer protection law, or advertising self-regulatory programs, as misleading or deceptive; and (2) is there uncleared content in