\u201cInfluencer Marketing\u201d is a very well known topic to the jurists and operators of the advertising sector dealing with commercial communication.<\/p>\n
There is a core principle<\/strong> in communication law: any form of commercial communication shall be clearly recognizable as such<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Before the diffusion of digital communication and, along with it, the proliferation of the so-called „Influencer Marketing“, the issue of recognizability of commercial communication was generally discussed when evaluating whether an advertising content was clearly distinguishable from a journalistic or an informative content (such is the longstanding issue regarding the advertorial).<\/p>\n For a short period of time there was a debate regarding the so-called subliminal advertising, which eventually fell into oblivion.<\/p>\n The necessity to point out to the consumer whether the appreciation for a product or a service shown by a well-known person \u2013 precisely an \u201cInfluencer\u201d \u2013 (i.e. the endorsement<\/em>) is genuine or not has become a much encountered and controversial topic.<\/p>\n It shall not be considered as spontaneous when an individual receives remuneration for wearing a fashion item, for using a smartphone, or simply when he\/she receives as a gift the products that he\/she promotes or other valuable products.<\/p>\n It is clear and proven that the spontaneous choice of an \u201cidol\u201d by the public has a bigger impact on these same people rather than any traditional way of advertising. Hence the abuse of surreptitious advertising on the less easily monitored channel: the web, precisely.<\/p>\n What measures should be taken to ensure that the consumers can understand clearly whether a post is subject of a contract or not?<\/p>\n The answer would be very simple.<\/p>\n It would be enough to require the sponsored post<\/strong> to contain, in clearly visible characters, terms as \u201cAdvertisement\u201d, \u201cSponsored by\u201d, \u201cCommercial agreement\u201d<\/strong> or similar notices.<\/p>\n In Italy, in absence of a law regulating specifically the matter, both the Istituto della Pubblicit\u00e0 (Italy\u2019s Advertising Self-Regulatory Institute) and the Autorit\u00e0 Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (the Competition Authority) have expressed their opinion on this subject.<\/p>\n In the Italian Advertising Self-Regulatory Institute\u2019s digital chart <\/em>it is written: \u201cin order to make the promotional nature of content posted on social media and content sharing sites recognizable, celebrities\/influencers\/bloggers must at the top of their post state in a clearly distinguishable manner the words: \u201cPubblicita\u0300\/Advertising\u201d, or \u201cPromosso da … brand\/Promoted by…brand\u201d or \u201cSponsorizzato da…brand\/Sponsored by…brand\u201d or \u201cin collaborazione con …brand\u201d or \u201cin partnership with the …brand\u201d; and\/or<\/strong> within the first three hashtags (#) use one of the following terms: \u201c#Pubblicita\u0300\/#Advertising\u201d, or \u201c#Sponsorizzato da … brand\/#Sponsored by the … brand \u201c or \u201c#ad\u201d along with \u201c#brand\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n In a press release of 2017 the Italian Competition Authority has required the addressees the use of the following warnings to be placed below the post together with the others hashtags (#), such as \u201c#sponsored, #advertising, #paidad\u201d<\/em>, or, in the case of products given for free to the celebrity, \u201c#productsuppliedby\u201d<\/em>; in particular, all these wordings should be followed by the name of the specific brand being advertised<\/strong>.<\/p>\n However, browsing the Instagram\u2019s pages of various Influencers, it is noticeable that only a few of them are actually using the indications provided by the authorities.<\/p>\n And when it happens to came across Instagram\u2019s profiles that use such indications, it is noticeable that the hashtag that is most commonly used is \u201c#ad\u201d<\/em>, whose effectiveness (especially in Italy where terms such as \u201cadvertising\u201d, \u201cAdv\u201d<\/em> and, even more so, \u201cad\u201d<\/em> are not easily decipherable by the average consumer) raises many concerns.<\/p>\n So far the Italian Competition Authority intervened sending moral suasion<\/em> letters to some of the main influencers and companies producing the branded goods displayed in the posts, but still no self-regulatory, administrative or state measures have been taken<\/strong>.<\/p>\n