The FTC Is Cracking Down On Instagram Product Whoring
Terrible, awful, tragic news for famous people who like to make a little extra cash by shamelessly shilling teeth whitening products, waist trainers, laxative tea, and hair vitamins. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, the Federal Trade Commission will soon start coming for sponsored celebrity social media posts.
The FTC isn’t happy that celebrities and social media people aren’t disclosing whether or not they’re getting paid to pimp out a product on Instagram. Like Lindsay Lohan above hustling Cocowhite, a product that I’m so sure was responsible for cleaning up her poop-beige teeth. The FTC says they’ve been investigating deceptive endorsement deals for decades, and Instagram product shilling is the latest example. They believe that consumers put stock in celebrity endorsements, and they don’t want them to be misled.
The FTC is also cracking down on people who specify that it’s a sponsored post, but aren’t blatant enough with it. When Kim Kardashian posts a picture of herself pretending that she’d actually ingest one of those gummy hair vitamins, she also includes the hashtag #sp (ie. sponsored post). The FTC doesn’t think that’s transparent enough. The FTC believes that consumers might not know that hashtags like #sp and #ad and #spocon (sponsored content) indicate that it’s a paid post. Even if they do know about said hashtag, the FTC says that a lot of celebrities bury them at the end of their captions where people aren’t likely to read them. According to the FTC, that’s not a clear enough disclosure of getting paid.
Today must feel like end times for shameless Instagram whores. The four horsemen of the FTC apocalypse (Honestly, Transparency, Authenticity, and Reality) will soon ride in and scoop up all their easy extra income. Won’t somebody PLEASE think of the reality stars and Real Housewives and washed-up celebrities??
I’m always legitimately shocked that anyone would actually buy the shit famous types were hustling on Instagram. But they’re definitely not going to buy it when they discover that someone like Kim Zolciak doesn’t actually start every morning with a hot mug of that disgusting loose poop-making FitTea unless she’s getting paid for it.
Poor FitTea. Forget what I said about the famous cash whores above; FitTea is the real victim here. Although I’m sure there will still be some people who will find a way to make it seem appealing. “Honestly, I’d still drink this stuff even if I wasn’t getting paid for it! #ButPleaseDontMakeMeThough.”
Pic: Instagram