When you see a celebrity using Twitter or Instagram in what looks like a personal post saying how much they love a particular product, you have to be suspicious. Were they paid by the product’s maker to casually say nice things about it, or was the post an honest sharing of the celeb’s favorite things?
Does Heidi Klum really like Dunkin’ Donuts, or was she paid to promote them?
Does this fashionista really use this makeup, or was she paid to say nice things about it?
To help separate the honest opinions from the “paid to say it” posts, the FTC’s Testimonial and Endorsement Guidelines require that there be a conspicuous disclosure of any material connection between the endorser (the celeb) and the company that made the product. How often have you seen such a disclosure? Probably rarely if ever. That’s why we say the worst mouse print is the fine print disclosure that is missing in an advertisement.
This past March, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sent “warning” letters to close to 100 celebrities and companies “educating” them about the federal rules on disclosing when an endorsement is really a paid advertisement. The FTC could not always tell if there was a financial connection between the celeb and the product manufacturer or not, so the letters were rather gentle. Here are copies of all of them and the names were NOT redacted.
The list of those warned reads like a who’s who in entertainment, including Jennifer Lopez, Lindsay Lohan, Sofia Vergara, Heidi Klum, Victoria Beckham, and even Nicole (Snooki) Polizi. And big companies like Dunkin’ Donuts, Puma, Chanel, and Johnson & Johnson also received greetings from the FTC.
The FTC letter sent a strong message to these celebrity influencers, as they are called. The question is whether they will fess up in future posts.
“Does _____ really like _____, or was he/she paid to promote them?” As soon as a consumer matures to the point of eschewing child-like celebrity worship, the question becomes moot.
I do always assume the celebrity was paid to promote the product. I’d be happily surprised to find out that wasn’t the case for some products, but for others, why wouldn’t they be getting paid? I wouldn’t believe it if someone told me they did a shoe commercial for free.
Celebrities (at least the kind discussed here) are a brand. They broadcast a tightly controlled image of themselves and what they do. As such, anything they post, including any products they use, is meant to further refine and promote the brand. So it doesn’t really matter if they are paid for it or not. If people buy these products in an effort to be “just like” a given celebrity, they are imitating the brand and not the person. Now a celebrity may choose to project a (real or fake) sense that they cannot be bought and that they fight for the greater good, but the audience can only see what they are presented, and there is no guarantee, and certainly no way to legislate, that whatever the celebrity is posting is actually real. In the age of social media this is even true for regular people.
Considering that not only celebrities but politicians are promoting their own “brands” these days, I simply make the assumption that everyone is making a buck on the side, legal or not. Since corruption runs to the highest levels, what else can one assume?
People who believe celebrity promos and buy their products deserve to be scammed. Didn’t WC Fields say…There are suckers born every minute?….or something like that.
If people aren’t already paid to promote a product on social media, they are probably promoting themselves in a way that is intended to garner attention so that they can be paid sometime soon.
If someone doesn’t mention specifics about why they think a product is great, I don’t even pay attention, and even then, I probably wouldn’t buy it without first reviewing other consumer opinions.
Ample demonstration of the power of celebrity: Less than a day after the president’s youngest son was pictured wearing a “The Expert” T-shirt, the product was out of stock on the company’s website. Hmmm…
Go to great lengths to stay away from celebrity endorsed products. Just think what under armour, nike, reebok stuff would actually cost without those huge endorsements. I am content with my LLB stuff without fancy brand name logos.