Influencers and Advertising: The Ethical Concerns

Joseph Nurre

Joenurre@gmail.com

 

The PRSA and AAF provide clear expectations for how professionals in the industry should act in maintaining mutual respect and public trust. Even though these codes of ethics should work in today’s age, social media platforms are causing a major problem that blurs the voice of brands to consumers.

The primary issue that social media causes concerning ethical intent from brands are marketing through the influencers of these platforms in product placements and sponsorships. While many of these brand deals are clearly defined and publicly disclosed, hidden contracts are common with influencers in which they discreetly use specific brands for the clothes and products they display in their content.

Brands that take part in this act of hiding information from their audience directly are going against the 4th statement of the Principles and Practices for Advertising Ethics, which is, “Advertisers should clearly disclose all material conditions, such as payment or receipt of a free product, affecting endorsements in social and traditional channels, as well as the identity of endorsers, all in the interest of full disclosure and transparency.”

Sophie Crowther in Ethical Considerations in Influencer Marketing references even more codes of ethics such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). She finds that “even in the countries where these regulations do apply, studies show that less than 15% of posts meet all regulatory guidelines set out by the FTC and the CMA.” 

Even though this issue seems to be ever-growing, it actually is solving itself through the public watch. Getting caught violating the regulation rules by cutting corners and hiding information can lead to fines and legal fees, but the most damaging effect is losing the trust of the public, which can take decades to build back.

 

We as the public are the guinea pigs of the dawn of social media marketing, and we are responding to this experiment loud and clear. One side effect of brands entering the social media spaces is that the public knows a lot more about their activity and thoughts in general.

With more opportunities to share their voice,  brands have an even larger window to say the wrong thing. Michael White in Social Media Marketing Ethics references the mental misstep from Cheerios in honoring Prince’s passing, stating, “Following the musician’s death in 2016, Cheerios thought it was a good idea to tie their brand to Prince’s passing. The company tweeted a purple 'Rest in peace' image with their circle cereal replacing the dot in the word 'in'. Fans and customers were not happy.”

 

Picture source: https://fortune.com/2016/04/21/cheerios-tweet-prince/

 

This act of unethical marketing through an attempt to create an emotional connection between cereal and a musician’s fan-base was just one of many examples of how powerful the public’s voice is in responding to a social media post. Cheerios spent weeks responding to the pressure and comments put on them from fans for making this inappropriate branded post.

Overall, social media platforms feel like the wild west still in what ethical rules should be established, and how they need to be enforced. In the meantime though, the comment section will be flooded with opinions and ideas of the public, serving as the watchdog of the digital age similarly to Journalism.