As recently as last week, Sony was caught in an embarassing viral marketing attempt where they paid a guy to sing a rap song on YouTube about how much he loved the PSP. (You can watch that video below.) According to Kotaku, Sony have also been caught (in the past) attempting to promote the PSP via blogs, and street grafitti.

But thanks to the Federal Trade Comission, the relationship between advertiser and company must be disclosed from now on.

According to the Washington Post,

"Though no accurate figures exist on how much money advertisers spend on such marketing, it is quickly becoming a preferred method for reaching consumers who are skeptical of other forms of advertising.

Word-of-mouth advertising is already covered under existing FTC regulations that govern commercial endorsements. What the FTC sought to do yesterday in its staff opinion was to note that such marketing could be deceptive if consumers were more likely to trust the product's endorser "based on their assumed independence from the marketer."

The FTC staff said it would go after violators on a case-by-case basis. Consequences could include a cease-and-desist order, fines and civil penalties ranging from thousands of dollars to millions of dollars."

Click below to watch Sony's embarassing attempt to shill PSPs on YouTube.