FTC Influencer Marketing Action Letters

Excerpt from Letter
“One of your other Instagtam posts, attached to this letter, has recently come to our attention. In a post that appears to show you having a treatment performed on your thigh, you wrote, “Summer got me like (emoji) -‘Plove my secret @beverlyhillsrejuvenationlv @cdanison #rejuvenate #summer.” This post endorsing Beverly Hills Rejuvenation Center does not disclose whether you have material connection with the business.
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Excerpt from Letter
“Four of your other Instagram posts, attached to this letter , have recently come to our attention. In one post showing you wearing a dress, you wrote, “I Love this Dress from @fashionnova!(emoji).”Another post shows your son playing tennis and reads, “Pumpkin in @childsplayclothing (emoji).” Neither post discloses whether you have a material connection with the marketer endorsed in the post.”

Excerpt from Letter
“One of your other Instagram posts, attached to this letter, has recently come to our attention.You posted a picture of yourself wearing a leatherjacket and wrote “New leather (emoji).” In the picture, you tagged the jacket “hacullaofficial.” The FTC staff believes that tagging a brand is an endorsement of the brand. Accordingly, if you have a material connection with the marketer of the tagged brand, then your post should disclose that connection. Your post does not disclose whether you have a material connection with the marketer.”

Excerpt from Letter
“Two of your other Instagram posts, attached to this letter, have recently come to our attention. In one, you posted a video of yourself cooking and wrote , “Cooking on a #boat In @alexanderwangny (emoji) .” In another , you posted a selfie on a boat and wrote, “#cannes (emoji) #chakra #blessed #LohanJewelry @ssh_maritime.” Also, int he photo, you tagged “ssh_maritime.” The FTC staff believes that tagging a brand or business is an endorsement of the brand or business  Accordingly , if you have a material connection with a tagged business or the marketer of a tagged brand, then your posts should disclose that connection. Neither post discloses whether you have a material connection.”

Excerpt from Letter
“We are concerned about the adequacy of your disclosures regarding your apparent connection to the ABA. Although the text description of your post stated, “We partnered with the American Beverage Association” and “[ad],” the video itself did not include any disclosures. Viewers can easily watch a video without reading disclosures in a post’s text description. There should be clear and conspicuous
disclosures in the videos themselves, for example, by superimposing much larger text over the videos. Because you made endorsements through both visual and audible means, the disclosure should have been made both in the video’s visual and audible portions.