A feature article in NY Times today, reveals how
advertisers are using ‘ads’ in social media as ‘testimonials’ of the
celebrities. These new promotional
campaigns are mostly for such cosmetic products which are being pushed to cover
larger market.
As an example, it describes how millions of people who follow Kim Kardashian
West and her sisters on social media have become accustomed to seeing them
praise everything from fat-burning tea to gummy vitamins for healthier hair - “Ever
since I started taking two @sugarbearhair a day, my hair has been fuller and
stronger than ever!! Even with all the heat and bleaching I do to it!” Khloé
Kardashian posted on Instagram this month.
However last week, close watchers of
the sisters’ accounts noticed a small addition to those laudatory messages
about the latest miracle product: “#ad.”
The strategy behind is to
deceptively portray these ‘ads’ or ‘sponsored’ messages as testimonials
purportedly from people like the Kardashians and other so-called influencers
who command big, loyal followings on services like Instagram, Snapchat and
YouTube.
These marketing strategies are being
seen as violation of fair advertising code, but Mary K. Engle, FTC’s Associate
Director feels that such ‘ads’ have to be unambiguous before these are
considered so.
Audiences “have a very visceral
reaction to ‘#ad’ or ‘#spon’ or whatever it is, where they don’t want to know
people are getting paid for stuff even if they are,” according to Jaclyn
Johnson, president of creative services at Small Girls PR, where she connects
brands like L’Oréal Paris and Urban Decay cosmetics to influencers who have large
social media followings. Disclosure, which the F.T.C. has been wrestling with for
years has become more important as the money offered to influencers has jumped
and the number of sponsored posts on services like Instagram and YouTube has
surged.
A company ‘Captiv8’ that connects
brands to influencers, says someone with three million to seven million
followers can charge, on average, $187,500 for a post on YouTube, $75,000 for a
post on Instagram or Snapchat and $30,000 for a Twitter post. For influencers
with 50,000 to 500,000 followers, the average is $2,500 for YouTube, $1,000 for
Instagram or Snapchat and $400 for Twitter.
The company has counted more than
200,000 Instagram posts a month since January tagged with “#ad,” “#sp” or
“#sponsored” — and that does not include those that were not properly marked.
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