What is Influencer Law?
Influencer marketing is a fairly new career that focuses on brand building and brand exposure. Influncers must not only maintain a certain self-image through self-promotion, but also be concerned with the promotion of others (brands, people, products, etc.). Because of the rapid growth of these personas, there is legal exposure along with it. As an influencer, to best prepare yourself for anything that can happen online, it is smart to hire legal counsel to oversee contractual agreements, intellectual property portfolios, and continued business success.
How has COVID-19 Changed Digital Marketing?
Due to the effects of COVID-19 on our communities around the world, everyone has been spending significantly more time online, further optimizing platforms for influencers to have even larger, more devoted audiences. Consumers are being bombarded more and more every day with offers, information, etc.
Along with the immediate increase in the number of people online and the amount of time spent online, there has also been an increase in enforcement activity of influencer marketing. For example, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently mandated that any material connection between a brand and an endorser needs to be disclosed in a straightforward way. They set up a public comment period and ended up extending it further due to COVID-19.
This process was likely a result of influencers deceiving and confusing customers. It is important that followers of these influencers know that the influencers are being paid to talk about certain products and that they must be telling the truth about the benefits/effects. Due to the pandemic, government regulators are more concerned about deceptive advertising. For this reason, it is important to write up a formal contract for your influencers, review existing contracts to ensure that influencers have to follow the laws, and/or provide guidelines for disclosure.
For assistance with communicating with influencers, drafting/signing of contracts, disclosure guidelines, or anything else related to influencer law, call attorney Mark E. Sawicki, P.A. We have a team that specializes in influencer law. The world of digital marketing and e-commerce is very complex, but you don’t have to navigate it alone — we can help!