Around 100 social media influencers will be investigated by ACCC on accounts of deceptive advertising. Photo / Unsplash
Around 100 social media influencers will be investigated by ACCC on accounts of deceptive advertising. Photo / Unsplash
Social media influencers who promote companies in return for free travel and holiday experiences will be put under the microscope in Australia.
More than 100 influencers will be investigated by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), in an effort to crack down on individuals who fail to disclose when posts are “sponsored”.
While many specialise in wellness, beauty, fashion and fitness, travel has become an increasingly lucrative topic for social media stars to promote, in return for free trips or monetary payment.
In a Facebook post on January 16, ACCC reminded the public about the rules of advertising disclosure on social media and asked the public to share names of influencers who appeared to post content without clearly stating it was promotional.
“Influencers, across all social media platforms, can’t mislead consumers by failing to disclose if a post is an ad, a sponsorship or if they’re receiving incentives for promoting a brand,” ACCC wrote.
People were encouraged to share the names of influencers who may be “doing the wrong thing” via a private message to ACCC on Facebook.
ACCC received more than 150 tip-offs and while most of the influencers positioned themselves as experts on wellbeing, fitness, parenting and fashion, many also promote hospitality and tourism companies.
Similar to New Zealand, posting content about a trip or gifted item in return for payment (in the form of product or money) isn’t wrong, as long as influencers clearly inform their audience that they have been paid to promote it.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is clear on what sort of disclosure is necessary.
After complaints about influencer Simone Anderson in 2020, the ASA published new guidance on influencer marketing, specifically about the ways paid content must be labelled.
Consumers should know content is an ad when they first see it, according to the guidance, with labels that clearly and obviously identify it as ad content.
Hashtags and links can be used (such as #sp #sponsored or #collab) but do not count as disclosure on their own.
Ideally, this means stating a post as an ad at the start of a caption, rather than at the bottom, which can be truncated in longer captions.
Yet, many popular New Zealand travel and lifestyle influencers maintain the latter approach, if they clearly state it’s an ad at all.
Social media influencers can often be coy about whether they have received free product or money to post. Photo / 123rf
Among this is a sea of vague language that softly hints at a commercial tie-in without explicitly calling it out.
They are “hosted” by a glamping company, had an experience “with” a company or were “invited” to do something, while others simply thank the brand and tag them in the caption; allusions that are hazy enough to protect the person’s “authentic” reputation while “technically” disclosing that they received money or services in return for posting.
The reason influencers conceal or outright omit their commercial loyalties isn’t complex, according to Stacey Mulholland, a PhD student from Auckland University who studied influencers and sponsorship disclosure.
For marketers, the appeal of an influencer is the trust they have with their followers; a trust earned by appearing like a regular (albeit more polished and perfect) friend. However, according to Mulholland, this benefit is voided if followers become aware something is an ad.
“If consumers know that a post is an advertisement, they will disregard it,” she said.
The problem with unclear disclosure
For ACCC, the crackdown on travel influencers and the like is part of a wider focus on deceptive online marketing practices.
“With more Australians choosing to shop online, consumers often rely on reviews and testimonials when making purchases, but misleading endorsements can be very harmful,” said ACCC chair, Gina Cass-Gottlieb.
“It is important social media influencers are clear if there are any commercial motivations behind their posts. This includes those posts that are incentivised and presented as impartial but are not. The ACCC will not hesitate to take action where we see consumers are at risk of being misled or deceived by a testimonial, and there is potential for significant harm.”
