Changes to the WOMMA Ethics Code

As a member of WOMMA and its Ethics Advisory group, I am pleased to announce that the Board of Directors of WOMMA have recently approved some changes to the Ethics Code, some which our working group and WOMMA members had proposed.

The main changes to the code focus on the Honesty of Relationship, Opinion and Identity, which included:

• Practicing openness about the relationship between consumers and marketers. Consumers engaged in a word of mouth program should disclose their relationship with marketers in their communications with other consumers. We don’t tell consumers specifically what to say, but we do instruct them to be open and honest about any relationship with a marketer and about any products or incentives that they may have received.
• Requiring marketers to disclose their relationships with consumers in relation to word of mouth initiatives.
• Requiring marketers to effectively monitor disclosure of consumers involved in their word of mouth initiatives
• Standing against marketing practices whereby the consumer is paid cash by the manufacturer, supplier or one of their representatives to make recommendations., reviews or endorsements
• Requiring that consumers involved in a word of mouth initiative to disclose the material aspects of their commercial relationship with a marketer, including the specific type of any remuneration received.
• Requiring that consumers involved in a word of mouth initiative to disclose the source of product samples or incentives received from a marketer.
• And finally complying with FTC regulations that state: “When there exists a connection between the endorser and the seller of the advertised product which might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement (i.e., the connection is not reasonably expected by the audience) such connection must be fully disclosed.”
• The entire code is viewable here: WOMMA Ethics Code

Blake Cahill
Visible Technologies