‘Influencers’ must disclose paid endorsements, says UK watchdog
Celebrities told to make clear any rewards for online posting
The UK’s consumer protection and competition watchdog has told several celebrity “influencers” they must make sure to tell their followers clearly if they have been paid to endorse products in their social media feeds.
Influencers are bloggers, vloggers and social media personalities whose millions of fans follow them to see where they go on holiday, what they wear and which products they use.
In August, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority opened an investigation to see if influencers were clearly disclosing when they had been paid or rewarded for endorsements and promotions, rather than acting as ordinary consumers with no financial interest in the products and services they were using.
The singers Ellie Goulding and Rita Ora, fashion models Alexa Chung and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, and the actress Michelle Keegan are among the 16 celebrities who have given formal commitments to the CMA. Others named by the regulator include the TV reality stars Millie Mackintosh and Megan McKenna, and Zoe Sugg, better known by her YouTube moniker Zoella.
The CMA said all the influencers had co-operated with their investigating and volunteered to change the way they presented their association with products. The watchdog added it had “not made a finding on whether the influencers’ practices have breached consumer law”.
Andrea Coscelli, the watchdog’s chief executive, said: “Influencers can have a huge impact on what their fans decide to buy. People could, quite rightly, feel misled if what they thought was a recommendation from someone they admired turns out to be a marketing ploy.
“You should be able to tell as soon as you look at a post if there is some form of payment or reward involved, so you can decide whether something is really worth spending your hard-earned money on.”
Mr Coscelli said the influencers had pledged to “be more transparent when posting online”, adding that the enforcement action sent a “clear message” to other influencers and businesses to be “open and clear with their followers”.
Warning letters have been sent to a number of other celebrities urging them to review their practices “where some concerns have been identified”, the CMA stated.
In September last year, the CMA and the Advertising Standards Authority issued joint guidance on social media advertising, stating it was against consumer protection law for “editorial content in the media to promote a product where a trader has paid for the promotion without making that clear”.
In that guidance, the CMA said it expected influencers to disclose when they had received “any form of monetary payment, a loan of a product or service, any incentive and/or commission or have been given the product they’re posting about for free”.
The consumer protection body said on Wednesday it would further investigate “the role and responsibilities of social media platforms”.