WENDY KNOWLER | Beware of falling under the influence(r)

With traditional advertising, we know where we stand.

We know it’s a paid-for plug. The company is spending big bucks in the hope that we will feel inclined to buy what it is punting. And if we feel its claims can’t possibly be true, or are misleading, we can complain to the Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB), where experts will apply their minds to the issue before either upholding our complaint — and ordering the company to pull the ad in question — or dismissing it.

But “influencer” marketing has changed the landscape entirely — and generally not in a good way.

On February 3, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) conducted a “sweep” of 118 influencers’ content, looking for signs of misleading social media advertising. 

It concluded that a staggering 81% of the posts were “concerning”.

Here’s why: the posters failed to properly disclose whether they were being paid or incentivised in some other way in exchange for promoting a business in their posts. So instead of clearly including a hashtag such as #ad, #advert, #brandedcontent or #paidpartnership, they simply tagged brands in their posts, used product placement in their posted photos or videos, or thanked the brand in question.

“Less clear labels such as #sp, Spon, gifted, Affiliate, Collab, ‘thanks to …’, or merely mentioning the brand name may not be sufficient to clearly distinguish the post as advertising,” the ACCC said.

Sadly we can only expect more of this inauthentic nonsense parading as solid advice. The global influencer marketing sector is expected to grow to $24.1bn (R456bn) by 2025.

Some posters disclosed that they were being paid in some form by the company they were talking up, but in a devious way, such as using the hashtag in small white font on a white background, making them invisible to the reader but still visible to search engines. All very disturbing and distasteful.

The ACCC vowed to address the issue with individual influencers and to focus on “the role of brands, advertisers, marketing firms and social media platforms in facilitating misconduct”.

I often see social media posts blatantly punting local brands without any disclosure of a commercial relationship, which clearly exists in many cases. 

Our ARB requires such “paid” posts to be identified by the likes of “#AD” “#Advertisement” or “#Sponsored”.

But the organisation does not proactively tackle the posters and the companies paying them — it only responds to complaints by consumers or competitor brands.

So if we, the audience, don’t bother to complain, we can expect more of the same. A lot more. The cosmetic, clothing, footwear and food and drink sectors were found to have the highest proportion of concerning claims among the industries targeted in the ACCC operation. 

A graphic example of what’s truly diabolical about plugs posing as organic, uninfluenced content landed in my inbox this week, courtesy of the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). Among its published rulings of the week was one which was upheld against “South African Foods Ltd t/a Candy Store 4 You”.

That caught my eye, naturally, but as a company search revealed, it’s based in Watford in England and all three of its directors, along with the company secretary, have the same surname and are British citizens. So here’s the case: a TikTok post on Saira Hayati’s account @sairahayati, seen in June, featured a range of claims about Celtic Sea Salt, including: “You need to alkaline your body! Reduce inflammation it makes you sick!”; “Celtic Sea Salt alkalines your body, it makes you function to optimal level. Alkalining your body is so important, because the more acidic it is, the more open it is to disorders and diseases”; “Even one little grain of this stuff is packed with minerals your body needs”; “It helps balance your sugar level, it eliminates mucus build-up, it improves your brain function, and it balances your electrolytes”; and “It doesn’t raise your blood pressure, because I’ve tried it”.

Hayati appears to rave about a host of products on her TikTok account, including a product containing Ginkgo biloba and a collagen product produced by a UK manufacturer “I’ve chosen to support”, as well as clothing items.

The complainant suggested that in her post about Celtic Sea Salt, Hayati made specific health, nutrition and human disease prevention or cure claims that were in breach of the authority’s code. Responding, South African Foods Ltd said it was not affiliated with Hayati and that it had no editorial control over her posts. She had bought the product independently, the directors said, and created the video herself.

Hayati said she had taken the claims from a search engine, various websites and a video from a well-known nutritionist who had tested Celtic Sea Salt. Impeccable, scientifically solid stuff — not. But she insisted the claims were true, and that her only slip-up was to claim the product had 92 minerals when it actually contains 82.

And contrary to the company’s claims, Hayati provided a screenshot showing that she would receive commission on the product if she sold it via the TikTok Shop, using the link provided in the post. TikTok said that violated its branded content policy and as a result, it removed it from its platform. The ASA concluded that the salt post was indeed an advert, as Hayati was affiliated with South African Foods Ltd and got commission every time the product was bought using the link in her post.

Because none of the health claims she made in respect of that salt product were permitted by the Great Britain nutrition and health claims register, they were in breach of its code and may not appear again. The company and the TikTokker were warned never again to “claim or imply a food or food supplement could prevent, treat or cure human disease”.

Stellenbosch-based doctor Harris Steinman, who has for decades lodged complaints about misleading, unsubstantiated claims by manufacturers and distributors with the ARB — mostly successfully — slammed Hayati’s post as a “great example of pseudoscience”.

“Claims that you can alkalinise your body are nonsense: tonnes of physiology research confirms that the body is a master at controlling its acid-base level and therefore pH level. 

“And even if this product truly contained 82 minerals, the amount ingested would be infinitesimally small and contributes zilch to your wellbeing.”

Sadly, we can only expect more of this inauthentic nonsense parading as solid advice. The global influencer marketing sector is expected to grow to $24.1bn (R456bn) by 2025 — four times what it was in 2020. A depressing prospect.

• Contact Wendy Knowler for advice with your consumer issues via email consumer@knowler.co.za or on X (Twitter) @wendyknowler