Skip to content
PromoVeritas
PromoVeritas
Contact Us
PromoVeritas
  • Home
  • About Us
  • What We Do and Why
  • Our Work
  • News
  • Join the Team
  • Contact

Celebrities warned again over #ad posts

Abi Roman April 26, 2017

The US Federal Trade Commission has written to ninety celebrity ‘Influencers’ warning them not to use their fame and extensive social media followings to promote brands without indicating that it is a paid for or sponsored post – usually via the #ad or #spon hashtags.

Although the FTC did not disclose which celebrities received the warnings it is thought that they include Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian, Rihanna, Victoria Beckham, Vanessa Hudgens and Lindsay Lohan who were all the subject of a complaint lodged by consumer watchdog Public Citizen regarding non-compliance with disclosure rules.

Authorities in the USA and the UK have been clear to stress that the laws requiring paid for messages to be clearly labelled as advertising (whether run in regular media, or social media or someone’s post, blog, or vlog) need to be applied more, and this latest publicity from the FTC is a forceful reminder to both celebrities and the brands and agencies behind them.

The FTC’s letter mainly referred to paid-for Instagram posts, and here are some of its suggestions:

  1. Always disclose when there has been a ‘material connection’ between the brand featured and the celebrity – this applies where there has been a cash payment, or simply free product.
  2. Put the disclosure hashtag at the start of your post – users viewing Instagram posts can only see the first three lines before they need to click ‘more’ so the #ad or #spon hashtag needs to go at the very beginning to make it clear it’s an ad
  3. Don’t mix your disclosure hashtag with other tags – users tend to ignore or skip past multiple hashtags and links so the disclosure hashtag needs to be at the start of the post to keep it distinct and separate
  4. Some disclosure hashtags such as #sp or #partner are not clear enough – the FTC recommends using #ad or where possible #Sponsored or #Paid Ad in case abbreviations are misunderstood

As the FTC recently stated “If someone is posting something that’s either expressly or implicitly an endorsement and they’ve been paid to do that, it should be disclosed whether it’s on Snapchat, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook or anywhere else.” See link for the full FTC guidance.

Authorities in the UK are also worried about the same matter. IN 2016 the Competition and Markets Authority sent similar warning letters to 43 celebrities telling them that they were in breach of consumer protection law and The Telegraph recently reported that “UK watchdog, the Advertising Standards Agency, confirmed that it has also been cracking down on the phenomenon, working with companies and high profile users to ensure guidelines are met”. In March 2017 the ASA published its own new guidance for online marketing  to help make sure that brands and agencies are in compliance with CAP Code Rule 2.1 that requires marketing communications to be obviously identifiable.

The rules really are that simple but to ensure that your online and social media promotions are compliant and free from risk contact PromoVeritas on +44 203 325 6000 or email info@promoveritas.com.

« PromoVeritas Awarded Information Security ISO27001 Certification When promotions don’t pay »

Call us on 0203 325 6000 to find out how we can help your promotion

+44 (0)203 325 6000
info@promoveritas.com
  • Home
  • About Us
  • What We Do and Why
  • Our Work
  • News
  • Join the Team
  • Contact
Proud members of ISO-27001 Accredited Proud members of
Run it Right.
© 2023 PromoVeritas
Privacy Policy Terms of Service Website Terms & Conditions Cookies Policy
We use cookies on our website. All the cookies we use can be viewed using the Cookie Settings button. By clicking “ACCEPT” you consent to the use of all cookies. You cannot disable our essential cookies.
Do not sell my personal information.
Read More
ACCEPTCookie settings
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Essential
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

CookieTypeDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary011 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-non-necessary011 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Non Necessary".
viewed_cookie_policy011 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Non Essential

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.

CookieTypeDurationDescription
_ga01 yearThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to calculate visitor, session, camapign data and keep track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookies store information anonymously and assigns a randoly generated number to identify unique visitors.
_gat_UA-15728851-301 minuteThis is a pattern type cookie set by Google Analytics, where the pattern element on the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to. It appears to be a variation of the _gat cookie which is used to limit the amount of data recorded by Google on high traffic volume websites.
_gid01 dayThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the wbsite is doing. The data collected including the number visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages viisted in an anonymous form.
bcookie01 yearThis cookie is set by linkedIn. The purpose of the cookie is to enable LinkedIn functionalities on the page.
bscookie11 year
csrftoken011 monthsThis cookie is associated with Django web development platform for python. Used to help protect the website against Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks
GPS030 minutesThis cookie is set by Youtube and registers a unique ID for tracking users based on their geographical location
IDE11 yearUsed by Google DoubleClick and stores information about how the user uses the website and any other advertisement before visiting the website. This is used to present users with ads that are relevant to them according to the user profile.
ig_did11 year
ig_nrcb01 year
lang0This cookie is used to store the language preferences of a user to serve up content in that stored language the next time user visit the website.
li_sugr02 months
lidc01 dayThis cookie is set by LinkedIn and used for routing.
lissc01 year
mid01 yearThe cookie is set by Instagram. The cookie is used to distinguish users and to show relevant content, for better user experience and security.
test_cookie011 months
u02 months
UserMatchHistory01 month
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE15 monthsThis cookie is set by Youtube. Used to track the information of the embedded YouTube videos on a website.
YSC1This cookies is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos.
Save & Accept