This is a response to a specific conversation thread on Twitter, not gen-purpose.  Those exist elsewhere as y'all know.

• To my knowledge there have yet to be any cases / investigations over the new(ish) disclosure guidelines (and it's 3p Eastern time so it's unlikely I'm taking the time right now to find out).  And they're just guidelines, with some specific rules.  So we're not exactly sure how this is all going to pan out.
• The rules, however, are designed to prevent deceptive marketing practices.
• Asking Requiring a reviewer (not a paid endorser, who would be required to disclose such status) to only say good things sounds deceptive to me.  Just my $0.02.
• Bloggers, more and more, want to be treated as journalists - this goes (or should) both ways - not just shield laws but also an expectation of unbiased reporting.
• At the very least Requesting/Requiring that negative comments are not published is not in-line with providing an honest review of a product.
  • I'm not even going to get into the issues of writing quality.  For that you can see more at the other places I write.
  • Same goes for taxes on received product (except I don't discuss it elsewhere -- this isn't AccountingCog)
• If you want a product tester, hire a private product tester or company who does not publish their opinion of the product or even think about doing so.  Find the faults with the device or instructions and fix them. That's part of the process.
• If you want a reviewer to provide opinions that you can quote in your marketing materials - then take the good with the bad and run that risk.  If you need to mitigate it later (e.g. "The washing machine did not get out all the blood I had to clean off the hospital floor" spin it to not being an industrial machine designed for that kind of stain but rather only intended for grape and grass stains).
• You can either have a compensated endorser or a product reviewer - a compensated product reviewer who is told to not publish anything negative is (or should be) a Chimera (i.e. what it is - a combined animal and mythical/fictional)
• At the very least anyone should know better than to publicly post rules requiring their people not publish negative comments -- it's going to be seen.  And the message can be driven home other ways - less lead time on new products, lower valued products, not being selected for a new product at all.  It's the subtle flavors of a dish that make the difference, not the sprig of parsley on the side -- not everything needs to be in everyone's face.
• The graphic above is meant to represent spin.
• This opinion is my own.  It is not the opinion of anyone else I know their employers, their clients, their kittens, kids, neighbors, or anyone I may have ever met or tweeted.

-30-