The Importance of Disclosing Sponsorships

Rebecca Lo

CRISIS:The poor performance of traditional display and

banner ads requires a new strategy. (Matrix)

Enter native advertisements

“Online advertising in which:(1) the consumer gives permission to

the advertiser to communicate with them

(2) the ad format minimizes disruption to the user experience in which it is placed” (Campbell)

The Goal:

Consumers should have the same reaction as if they clicked on regular editorial content (Matrix)

However,Some ads fail to disclose sponsorship to consumers, possibly tricking consumers

into viewing content that they think is unbiased (Campbell)

Advertisers and content producers should be required to disclose sponsored content.

Intentionally hiding sponsorship exploits consumers who have a relationship of trust with content

producers.

On platforms like YouTube, content creators get popular because their viewers get to know them.

They essentially become friends and the relationship is a trusting one.

A recent study found that 84% of consumers trusted recommendations from people they knew, as compared to ads on TV (62%) (“Under the influence: Consumer trust in advertising”)

If consumers find out about intentionally hidden

sponsorships, it tarnishes the reputations of both the

advertisers and the content producers.

“The Office of Fair Trading, the British equivalent of the United States Federal Trade Commission, has

determined that the hiring of […] social media contributors to promote particular products without adequate disclosure of the relationship may violate

U.K. consumer protection laws” (Robinson)

“The influencers are influenced. Can't really

blame them but I think it's a valid reason to seek

alternatives” (“Influencer trips and why I won’t be purchasing Tarte products

again”)

Are there any solutions?

"Ultimately, it pays to be honest.”

“Vloggers build their fan base on the originality and authenticity of the material they produce. It’s potentially damaging to

their reputation to be found to have hidden the fact that the content they're

producing is paid for and controlled by an advertiser“ (Harley)

“’Sponsored’ simply means some sort of payment has exchanged hands between brand and blogger in either cash, product or services” (Summers)

“Sponsorship does not have to mean that the blogger has regurgitated pre-written content, used images from a retailer's website and thrown in some links” (Summers)

“By [creating] interesting, informative, useful and engaging [content] that is also clearly marked as sponsored content, you're proving that just because you received payment to

[create] it doesn't mean it's less worthy than the rest of your output” (Summers)

Works Cited Campbell, Colin, and Lawrence J. Marks. “Good native advertising isn’t a secret.” Business Horizons, vol. 58, no. 6,

2015, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2015.06.003.Harley, Nicola. “Hidden advertising by vloggers under the spotlight.” The Telegraph, 26 Nov. 2014,

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11255077/Hidden-advertising-by-vloggers-under-the-spotlight.html.

“Influencer trips and why I won’t be purchasing Tarte products again.” Reddit, 18 Oct. 2016, https://www.reddit.com/r/MakeupAddiction/comments/5874i2/influencer_trips_and_why_i_wont_be_purchasing/.

Matrix, Sidneyeve. “Consumer Culture and Advertising Strategies.” Film 240 Lecture, 28 Sept. 2016, Queen’s University. Lecture.

Matrix, Sidneyeve. “Public Relations.” Film 240 Lecture, 05 Oct. 2016, Queen’s University. Online Lecture.Robinson, Eric P. “U.K. Extends Consumer Disclosure Laws Online, As In U.S.” Digital Media Law Project, 14 Jan.

2011, http://www.dmlp.org/blog/2011/uk-extends-consumer-disclosure-laws-online-us.Summers, Catherine. “Bloggers: Why You Must Disclose Sponsorship, and Readers: Why Not All Sponsored Posts

Are Bad.” Not Dressed As Lamb, 04 May 2016, http://www.notdressedaslamb.com/2016/05/bloggers-why-you-must-disclose-sponsorship-readers-why-not-all-sponsored-posts-are-bad.html.

“Under the Influence: Consumer Trust in Advertising.” Nielsen, 17 September 2013, http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2013/under-the-influence-consumer-trust-in-advertising.html.

All pictures used are under the Creative Commons license. They are listed in order of use.

Damian Zaleski, UnsplashKash Goudarzi, UnsplashJaelynn Castillo, UnsplashJaoa Silas, UnsplashWles van Erp, FlickrAmy Marbach, Flickr Fetmano, Flickr Tim Gouw, UnsplashHarli Marten, Unsplash

Olu Eletu, UnsplashSteiner La Engeland, UnsplashOlu Eletu, UnsplashMilada Vigerova, UnsplashiDriss Fettoul, UnsplashNick Karvounis, UnsplashBench Accounting, UnsplashBrenna Daugherty, FlickrThomas Lefebvre, Unsplash