Social Media's Implications For Me and You
I cannot tell you the amount of times I have clicked into Fabletics’ website to look at their 2 for $24 leggings deal. Honestly, it’s embarrassing. If there are two things that can get me going in life, it’s a good pair of leggings and a great deal. But the reason I know this deal by heart is because everybody and everyone who has a decent amount of fame seems to be talking about how incredible Fabletics is and how you should use their coveted code in order to get more bang for your buck. I will say, I am one to absolutely take a deal when I can get one, but there’s something that will stop me every time when it comes to situations like this. It’s that little hashtag that pops up at the end of the description or in the corner of a story, #ad.
#ad indicates a paid sponsorship between an influencer and a brand, however, it is not the only way to indicate this relationship. According to Inc. Magazine, influencers should disclose paid sponsorships through built-in tools on social media platforms, as well as use indicator words and hashtags such as “Thanks…” or #sponsored. The last point they give is not necessarily a rule, but rather a guideline that influencers should take into account for their own brand. In order to create the best outcome for both influencers and brands, deals should only be made for products that the audience would believe that the influencer actually uses and endorses, rather than a quick monetary compensation.
Now, the question is why do influencers have to disclose that they are working with a brand? Why can't this all simply happen under the table and make the brand look really organically popular?
That is where the FTC comes in. FTC stands for the Federal Trade Commission and its mission is to "protect consumers and competition by preventing anticompetitive, deceptive, and unfair business practices through law enforcement, advocacy, and education without unduly burdening legitimate business activity."
So in short, they're here to make sure you don't end up on the wrong end of a shady internet deal. This means they need to regulate online advertising, such as influencer deals because of the lack of sincerity within the recommendation. The FTC created a Q&A about their Endorsement Guides where they break down why these guides exist in layman's terms in order for the general public to understand their implications.
In regards to the legalities of endorsements, the guide’s most general response to the topic says that “The Guides are intended to give insight into what the FTC thinks about various marketing activities involving endorsements and how Section 5 might apply to those activities. The Guides themselves don’t have the force of law. However, practices inconsistent with the Guides may result in law enforcement actions alleging violations of the FTC Act. Law enforcement actions can result in orders requiring the defendants in the case to give up money they received from their violations and to abide by various requirements in the future. Despite inaccurate news reports, there are no “fines” for violations of the FTC Act.”
The heart of this issue is whether or not to trust how much the influencer actually loves this product. As a persistent Youtube consumer, I can name countless influencers who will promote anything to make a dime, but also know a handful who refuse to take sponsorships in order to keep their opinion pure and free of bias. Therefore, you have to take these advertisements with a grain of salt and take a step back to see what kind of influencer you may be receiving your information from in order to gain an understanding of how great this product may actually be.
As a whole, using sponsorships deals in social media seems like a really fresh idea. However, if you look at the concept of a sponsorship and what the logistics of it really are, it is simply a recycled idea at this point.
One of the most prominent social sponsorships of my childhood was the “Got Milk” campaign. I have a permanent image of a poster in my library with Britney Spears rocking a milk mustache and even though I live a dairy-free lifestyle today, I truly will never forget how much milk I drank because of that campaign. In an article written for the Journal of Marketing by Carolyn J. Simmons and Karen L. Becker Olsen, they focus solely on research devoted to social sponsorships. From this, their main point is that who a brand chooses to represent said brand has a major influence on the success of the brand, not only from a popularity standpoint but also a believability standpoint. The audience wants to believe that you support this brand and use them daily, so if a brand stretches too far out of their audience’s believability in order to receive a sponsorship with a lot of clout, it can truly backfire for the brand in the end.
So Kate Hudson, as much as I love how cute your leggings are and that 2 for $24 deal, I will unfortunately not be listening to your sponsors who say they use them for working out, but actually use them for athleisure. Instead, I’ll be using the word of mouth approach and getting the best bang for my buck (and making sure my pants stay up in rehearsal). Hope it works out for you though!
About McKenna:
McKenna Winkelmann is a senior at Grand Valley State University studying advertising and public relations, as well as dance. McKenna is a member of PRSSA and is an Account Associate for GVSU’s student run firm, GrandPR. She is also actively involved in her sorority, Alpha Omicron Pi, and teaches dance classes at Triumph Dance Academy. McKenna aspires to work in the arts and entertainment field of public relations and support her love of the arts through continuing to teach dance and performing whenever possible. When McKenna has a spare minute, you can find her listening to oldies music and cuddling with her cat, Eddie.