As the way we get our entertainment changes, advertisers continue to find ways to target the audiences who are tuned in. Spotify, for example, is apparently not content with playing the occasional ad between songs on its free tier. The streaming service is now testing “sponsored” songs that labels pay to run on the platform. [More]
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This Is How You Fail At Sponsored Social Media Posts
By 5.20.16
We’ve written in the past about how it’s illegal not to disclose when you’re getting paid to post about a product on social media like. There was nothing under-the-radar about a recent sponsored Instagram photo reality TV person Scott Disick posted, however. [More]
Lord & Taylor Gets Slap On Wrist For Paying Instagram “Influencers” To Run Secret Ads
By 3.15.16
If you’re getting paid to chat up a product or brand on social media, you need to disclose your relationship with what you’re shilling. That’s why retailer Lord & Taylor ended up in hot water with the Federal Trade Commission after paying high-profile Instagram accounts to secretly market their clothing without revealing that these were just ads. [More]
Feds Clarify When & How Advertisers Need To Reveal They Paid For Sponsored Stories
By 12.22.15
If you’re reading a website about business travel and you read an interesting news story about saving money on hotels, does it matter to you if that “article” was paid for by an advertiser? If so, how should that sponsorship be communicated to the reader? [More]
Why Do Websites Refuse To Label Sponsored Content As “Advertising”?
By 6.11.15
Looking back at our breakdowns of so-called “native advertising,” the ad-world terminology for an advertisement made to look like a news story, you may have noticed that these execrable, nauseating (but profitable) ads were labeled things like “Sponsored by…,” or “Promoted,” or the blatantly vague “From our partners,” but none of them simply said “advertisement.” And the people who make money off this insidious nonsense say there’s a good reason. [More]
