The FTC just sent 90 letters to celebs and brands reminding them of the rules.

The Federal Trade Commission, the government organization that regulates advertising, just announced that it has started a crackdown on Instagram #sponsored posts. It sent 90 letters to various influencers and brands reminding them of the FTC guidelines for social media endorsements. Basically: Saying #sp or “Thanks [@BRAND]” doesn’t cut it. This is the first time the FTC has sent this kind of letter, which is not an official warning but rather a sort of nudge-nudge educational message, reminding them of the rules. The letters were sent in response to the advocacy group Public Citizen, which had sent a petition to the FTC about celebrities, athletes, and models doing ambiguously labeled Instagram #ads. The FTC has not released the names of who got these letters, and Public Citizen does not know who exactly received a letter, either. Some of the people mentioned specifically in the complaint from Public Citizen include Bella Thorne, David Beckham, Mark Wahlberg, Scott Disick, Jenny McCarthy, Chris Pratt, Kendall Jenner, and Gigi Hadid.

According to the FTC’s announcement today, the letters reminded people what does NOT meet their requirement for a clear disclosure, including...

These commonly used visual tricks that hide the disclosure: Putting the disclosure at the end of a long caption, so that it’s cut off and you have to click “more” to read the full thing. Most people won’t ever click and see it.



#Using #tons #of #hasgtags #and #only #saying #ad #last

And these three common tricks that are half-assed disclosures that simply aren’t clear to the average person that the person either got paid or got a freebie: Using only #sp instead of #sponsored



Using just #partner



Saying “Thanks, [@BRAND]”

