Brands have a proposition for influencers: What if you didn’t make those pesky #ad disclosures?
The Utah-based wellness influencer Sharon Johnson, who describes herself in her Instagram bio as a “Reformed Tradwife,” said a supplement company recently asked her not to include an #ad disclosure in posts showing her receiving and opening the company’s product.
Johnson said she labeled the posts anyway, wary of losing her audience’s trust and of a potential penalty from the Federal Trade Commission, which mandates clear labeling. The brand’s request also rubbed her the wrong way.
“It almost feels like these companies are taking advantage of us because we are doing this for our livelihood,” she said.
That request from the supplement brand was part of a broader trend. A survey of 365 creators conducted for Business Insider by the influencer marketing company SheSpeaks found nearly one in five (18%) said a brand had explicitly requested that they not disclose a partnership in the past year.
It’s not just brands that are flouting the FTC rules. In the survey, 14% of creators said they didn’t always disclose partnerships, up from 2% when SheSpeaks conducted a similar survey a decade ago. Eighty-four percent said they “always or almost always” made their brand partnerships clear, down from 95% in the prior survey.
“The fact that disclosure went down was very surprising — we expected everyone to say, or at least know to say, yes,” said Aliza Freud, CEO of SheSpeaks.
“Paradoxically, it’s a little bit more like the Wild West” now than a decade ago, Freud added.
The FTC states that influencers should ensure people see and understand ad disclosures using “simple and clear language,” such as by thanking the brand for sending a free product or by using terms like “advertisement,” “ad,” or “sponsored.” The FTC doesn’t mandate specific wording, but says the relationship must be displayed “clearly and conspicuously” to the viewer.
Several creators and talent reps said requests to forgo disclosures were rare and tended to come from smaller brands rather than from big public companies.
Leila Marsh, chief talent officer of The Drive Agency, said brands have occasionally asked that posts not include disclosures, saying they wanted the post to look “organic.”
“We always do our best to push back,” Marsh said. “The entire reason people have these audiences is that they’re honest and authentic. The second they start saying it’s not a paid partnership, the viewers can see right through it.”
One reason brands may want to hide sponsorships: a widespread belief that it hampers engagement and reach on social platforms.
“I work with celebrities, we send them the captions with #ad in front of them, and they say, ‘Do we have to? It hurts engagement,'” said Shelby Currie, a director at the media agency Moroch. “We push back.”
Some platforms are taking matters into their own hands: YouTube said earlier this month that it’s introducing automated detection technology to label brand deals that haven’t been disclosed in creator videos. TikTok and Meta have similar systems.
Creators seek clarity
AJ Eckstein, founder of Creator Match, a creator marketing agency that works with tech brands, said influencers feel under increased pressure to perform and grow at a rapid pace.
“Speed is everything right now, and disclosures get treated like something that slows you down or leads to lower performance,” Eckstein said.
Eckstein said that in the past six months, two brands had asked his agency not to disclose, and that he no longer works with them.
“We’ve walked away from six-figure contracts over this,” he said. “The audience’s trust is the entire asset you’re renting. If you hide the deal, you’re spending down the exact thing you paid for.”
Even if brands do want creators to disclose partnerships, the SheSpeaks survey found gaps in the process. Just over half of those polled (57%) said the agency or brand provided clear disclosure instructions in the past year, while 36% said the agency or brand reviewed their content for disclosure compliance.
Some influencer marketing insiders say more education is needed for brands and creators. In April, the Institute for Responsible Influence, part of the Center for Industry Self-Regulation, launched the Responsible Influence Certification Program. The program trains creators on advertising rules and standards and helps brands and agencies work with creators responsibly. It is supported by TikTok and a coalition of advertising industry groups.
A lack of regular enforcement actions by the FTC has created an environment in which creators and brands may feel there’s little risk in breaking the rules, according to Lauren Wolfe, counsel at Travelers United, a nonprofit representing travelers that has brought actions against influencers for failing to disclose advertising.
Rob Freund, an advertising and e-commerce lawyer, said consumers are entitled to know whether an endorsement is genuine or paid because that information can influence purchasing decisions.
“Even if it doesn’t have a lasting financial impact, we shouldn’t want to live in a society, in my opinion, when it’s OK to lie about who likes what product,” Freund said.
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