Influencers, fraud, and covert advertising: an explosive cocktail?

[sakib60]

It's getting out of hand. Or maybe the other way around: it's being tampered with, which is what was needed. The influencers , I mean.

A few days ago, the Spanish Association of Advertisers (AEA) and phone number list Autocontrol announced that they had developed a "Code of Conduct on the Use of Influencers in Advertising" to bring this activity within current legal frameworks (because yes, it turns out there is legislation that must be complied with and that covert advertising is not permitted).

Around the same time, the British Competition Commission (CMA) published a guide for UK celebrities warning that misleading consumers contravenes the law and could lead to legal action from the CMA. In case things weren't clear enough, it sent letters to several influencers and reached agreements with just twenty of them, who agreed to clarify, when discussing a product, whether they had been paid to do so or received a gift.

Perhaps this coincidence of dates is no coincidence: according to the 2018 Hootsuite Social Media Barometer, Spain is, along with the United Kingdom, the European country where companies most frequently use influencer programs . Therefore, this activity faces a similar situation in both countries: an apparent lack of regulation, which isn't, however, because covert advertising is expressly prohibited. Not only in Spain and the United Kingdom, by the way.

This isn't the only controversy surrounding influencer engagement. In recent months, it has also become clear that all that glitters is not gold: the purchase of fake followers, likes, and comments has fueled fake influencers , to the point that Instagram announced in November that it would begin removing interactions and followers from accounts that used external applications to boost their popularity. And in an almost sarcastic twist, users with no semblance of influence have begun posting content on social media (especially Instagram, again) pretending to be the result of deals with brands, in an attempt to encourage companies to hire them for real. Fraud through and through.

Not to mention the controversial course “ Intelligence Influencers: Fashion and Beauty ” that the Autonomous University launched in 2018, which sought to establish this activity as a profession and teach how to practice it.

Oh, misunderstood influencer marketing, how much damage it has done to brands and people! Because yes, it's true that 72% of social media users in Spain claim to follow influencers, according to the "Annual Social Media Study" by IAB Spain. And yes, it's also true that some people influence others: the perceptions, opinions, etc., that other people form about a topic, a product, a circumstance. But no, it's not true that anything goes in this field.