Well, maybe the second most important rule. The most important thing is to never do anything that could get you charged with payola or plugola, but you know that already, right? Right? The other most important rule is this: Never endorse products you don’t use. Your credibility is your currency. Audiences can tell when you’re faking it. The end.
This rule is nuanced because the cost of breaking it is more specific than “your credibility suffers.” If you understand why it exists, what breaks down when it’s violated, and where the genuine gray areas are, you’ll make better decisions in the moments when the rule is hardest to follow.
Be forewarned: You will be tempted to compromise. There will be pressure to make an exception. But you need to be strong.
Why the Rule Exists
This is one of the cornerstone rules Paul Harvey put in place decades ago, and it still holds up today. The rule against endorsing products is derived from the fundamental mechanism by which endorsements work.
Endorsements succeed because audiences trust the personality making the recommendation. That trust is built on a specific belief: that when the personality says they use something, they really do, and they believe in it enough to recommend it. The moment that belief is false, the mechanism breaks.
It doesn’t break immediately or dramatically, but audiences calibrated to a specific personality’s authentic voice register the difference even when they can’t articulate it. The read sounds slightly off, or the enthusiasm doesn’t quite land. Maybe it’s too polished or vague.
That subtle wrongness accumulates as a gradual recalibration of how much the personality’s recommendations are trusted. Slowly, over time, the endorsements carry less weight. Results decline. Clients don’t renew. The revenue that should have been compounding erodes.
The result: It actively destroys the commercial value it’s trying to generate.
Do You Have To Actually “Use” The Product?
Before examining the cost of violating this rule, it’s worth being specific about what the rule requires because “use it” is a simpler standard than some products and categories allow.
The standard requires that the endorsement be grounded in experience rather than manufactured in its absence. It’s not just reading the copy sheet and deciding you can make it sound convincing.
For a restaurant, using the product is straightforward. Go there, eat the food, know the staff, and have the experience. For a gym, it’s the same principle. For a car dealer, a mattress company, or a local bank, the standard is to establish a direct, personal experience with the product or service as a customer would, even if you don’t open an account at the bank.
But for some categories, the standard requires more thought.
An endorsement for a home improvement store from a personality who rents an apartment requires creative interpretation of the standard. You can’t use the store for home renovation because they don’t own a home. But you can visit the store, speak with the staff, understand the inventory, and identify how the store serves people whose life circumstances align with its audience. The experience isn’t identical to ownership, but it’s genuine, and it produces real stories rather than performed ones.
A financial services endorsement requires a different kind of familiarity. The personality may not use this specific mortgage lender or investment platform, but they can speak with clients, understand the process, and evaluate whether the service delivers what it promises. The standard is informed advocacy rather than personal daily use.
A children’s education platform endorsed by a personality without children requires a more creative application of the standard, but it is possible. Speaking with parents who use the platform, understanding the curriculum, and seeing the results create a foundation for honest, informed advocacy even without direct personal use.
