This is not an advert
A watchdog has slammed the deceptive nature of some paid-for promotions by celebs and bloggers and has begun a crackdown on Twitter.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has started a crackdown on Twitter users and bloggers including celebs that are using their web presence to endorse products without telling users about their relationship with companies, The Guardian reported.
OFT's move will mean celebs and bloggers will have to learn how to declare their brand affiliations in a 140 character Tweet or risk the watchdog getting serious.
It has reportedly taken legal action against a PR firm claimed to be paying bloggers to write nice things about its clients' products. It is probing Handpicked media, which has a commercial blogging network telling the firm that paid-for promo comments must be clearly labelled.
OFT reportedly branded posts that did not make it clear whether they were paid-for promos as ‘deceptive' under fair trading rules. "This includes comments about services and products on blogs and microblogs such as Twitter," it reportedly said.
Celeb Twitter endorsements already make big bucks in the States and the US' watchdog, the Federal Trade Commission reportedly makes sure endorsements contain the words ‘spon' or ‘ad' in Twitter blasts.
It's not hard to see why celebs are tempted by the prospect.The Guardian reckons Snoop Dogg can pocket almost £2k for a promotional Tweet. Business Week recently interviewed Arnie Gullov-Singh, CEO of Ad.ly which acts as a match-making service for celebs and companies wanting to promote stuff.
He said that relatity TV queen, Kim Kardashian can earn up to $10 for a tweet based on her 5.6m followers.
"Her price keeps going up. The most effective ones can get six figures a year, and in some cases six figures a quarter... Celebrities can be great influencers, whether they're on TV or tweeting," he added.
The firm now reportedly has over 5,000 celeb clients and plans to launch in the UK. Gullov-Singh told Business Week: "A year ago, celebrities were wary about their reputation, about selling out, but when they saw how easy it was to earn up to $5,000 a tweet, they flocked on board."
With OFT's involvement and evidence of UK firms trying out Twitter promos it seems the trend will catch on in Britain soon. According to Marketing Week, Range Rover has set the wheel in motion and signed up 40 celebs to drive their new 4x4 and tweet about how great it is.
In November fashion designer, Henry Holland reportedly tweeted: "CAN'T WAIT FOR MY NEW RANGE ROVER..!!!"
While it apparently has been suggested by the company that celebs got to borrow the car and tweet about it in return, another Range Rover spokesperson has reportedly denied there were incentives to tweet.
The Guardian reported that media commentator Mark Borkowski believes celeb endorsements will become common in the UK and that how many followers a celeb has will determine their Twitter advertising value.
He reportedly said: "Celebrity endorsements go back to cigarette advertising in the 1900s. All we are seeing here is a change in the medium. Twitter is a very powerful medium."
"If people are open and there is a conversation about it, then fine. The problems come when people endorse covertly, that puts the whole thing into jeopardy," he added. And that's presumably what the OFT want to prevent.
