Let’s play a game. How many celebrities that endorse products can you name? (Hint: It doesn’t really matter, because I’m writing now, and you’re reading in the future. Unless our space-time continuums collide, I’ll never be able to hear your answers. So I win the game. Sorry!)But you can name a lot, right? Most sports stars have some kind of endorsement deal or sponsorship, and many other celebrities have their own fragrances or clothing lines. Celebrity endorsement and name licensing is big business. Who could forget Bill Cosby for Jell-O, Brooke Shields for Calvin Klein, or Fabio for I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!? Have you seen an HP commercial in the last few years? They’re full of celebs bragging about the crap they keep on their HP notebooks.Under new Federal Trade Commission guidelines, these celebrities, as well as bloggers who are paid to give good reviews or publicity, could be held liable for any untrue statements made about the products they endorse.Last week, the FTC published the final version of its guidelines affecting testimonial advertisements, bloggers and celebrity endorsements. Many of the guidelines were targeted at online and social media marketing, which has become a problem area for the regulatory agency.Bloggers and Twitterers will now have to disclose when they are paid to review or recommend a product. Some brands are upset, citing the difficulty of disclosing all relevant information in a 140-character Twitter post. They feel the guidelines are essentially excluding certain forms of social media marketing, a valuable tool in reaching today’s technologically connected demographics. Other companies are simply worried about a capitalist’s worst nightmare — additional regulation.To companies who are upset about having to be honest, I have only one thing to say:  boo-freaking-hoo. It must suck to be forced to rely on your product’s actual effectiveness to make zillions of dollars.I’m glad bloggers and other online personalities will be disclosing when they’re paid to give good reviews. So many people turn to the Internet for expert product recommendations or reviews these days — it’s important to know which ones are legitimate. I hope magazines will be held to the same standard, though they weren’t specifically mentioned in the FTC’s press release.And honestly, I’m pretty surprised this is new. I’ve often wondered how drugstores get to market shampoos as color-safe when they take the color off my hair almost as effectively as bleach. I’d be interested to know just how much “healthier” eating red meat cooked on a George Foreman grill is than eating meat cooked on the stovetop. And is Beyoncé going to be held accountable for L’Oreal’s Infallible lip color claims?I sure hope so, but I’ll believe it when I see it. I can only imagine a world where consumer products actually live up to the claims they make. In that world, I would finally get my hover car, and everyone would have equal access to free, quality health care!As a consumer, I do feel a little vindicated. I was worried consumers would be hung out to dry completely in the future, especially after seeing what happened to the banking industry after years of deregulation. For me, a poor college student, this is the “hope” President Obama talked about in his campaign — the hope new jeans will indeed fit perfectly, new cars will really get 28 miles per gallon, and frozen pizzas will truly taste like delivery. That’s the America I want to live in.  Sara Boyd is a 22-year-old general studies major from Baton Rouge. Follow her on Twitter @TDR_sboyd.—-Contact Sara Boyd at [email protected]