Representing the New Age Celebrity – Part II 

In Part I, we discussed the general contractual issues that typically confront both the Influencer and the hiring company.

More importantly, the influencer is involved in the art of making representations and suggestions in order to sell goods and services. In such cases, governmental compliance becomes a concern. Specifically, the Federal trade commission (FTC) has issued guidelines specifically for brand ambassadors and social media influencers, mostly to protect the consumer from false or misleading statements. As such, the Influencer is required to clearly and conspicuously disclose all paid endorsements and/or testimonials contained in the content, and clearly disclose his/her “material connection” with the hiring company. All stated experiences must be honest and truthful. The goal of the FTC disclosure rule is to make consumers aware of the fact that what they are reading or clicking on is an advertisement or they may be relying upon a business arrangement possibly influencing the communicated information.

If you are an Influencer, you should seek competent legal counsel who is familiar with the various nuances of a brand ambassador arrangement, and who is well versed with the applicable FTC guidelines. If you are an Influencer who makes available your product, service or content to a third party for the above reasons, then you need to make sure that third party can and will include the appropriate disclosures and other wise comply with applicable law. Everyone in the chain of distribution could potentially face liability should something go wrong and harm to the end user takes place.