If influencers are not being paid with stipulations to promote a product then they should not have to label it as an ad. But I also believe they should have to disclose any products that were sent in PR or gifted to them in the description of their posts. Their followers have the right to know this information. It definitely speak to the integrity of the influencer. You watch a few of Caroline Hirons empties videos and you'll get a sense of what she actually uses and the stuff she's just mentioning as a review for her blog. She's one in a very very very small list that are transparent. Another one is Fleur de Force, who might I add, also addressed this subject in her January Favorites in a much more mature manner. My problem with Lily's suggestion is that she's basically implying there is something to hide. Which leads me to the question, what and why? Knowing her she'd say it's not proper to publicly discuss your finances. To which I'd say, if you are going to take it upon yourself to play sales ambassador for a brand or company, then we deserve to know if you also invest your money in a brand, what you buy, and possibly how often. If you really believe in a product that much then you should have no problem sharing that information. I'm not Peddy Murphy. I've got no issues with these people getting freebies from a brand if they actually spend money there as well. You do realize that if they aren't paying then you are picking up the slack, right? There's also the issue of these vloggers making entire product review videos on gifted items and essentially turning it into a paying opportunity as they can still collect Google ad-sense on that video. What are you thoughts on that?I hate the woman but I think I understand where she’s coming from on this one. Not that I think the actual rules are confusing but if I share something on my Instagram (under 100 followers and I like it that way) that a friend has ‘gifted’ me from their small business do I now have to write #ad? My hairdresser quite often ‘gifts’ me a freebie haircut so if I post a pic and tag her (which I sometimes do) do I have to #ad? I’d assume not as I’m definitely not an influencer or doing for a living but there are those very rare people who just happen to have thousands of followers naturally. At what point do they start to fall under these guidelines?
Last edited: