According to Beautynury [1], seven enterprises were ordered to correct their advertisements on Instagram and fined 269 million KRW (225,597 USD) by the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) for violating Act on Fair Labeling and Advertising, among which 4 are cosmetic enterprises.
Clamping Down on Social Media Content Marketing
KFTC, in collaboration with the Korea Online Advertising Consortium, has conducted a comprehensive investigation of the advertisements published on Instagram since 2017 by seven well-known enterprises in the cosmetics, small household appliance and weight-loss supplement fields.
These seven enterprises cooperated with influencers on Instagram to promote their products. The influencer publishes posts introducing and recommending the products which include specific topics, photos, etc. designated by the enterprises. Then they’ll receive cash or free products from the enterprises as a reward.
South Korean Guidelines for Advertisement Review stipulate that if there is an economic benefit that affects the content or reliability of recommendations, guarantees, etc., the commercial relationship should be indicated.
A total of 4177 posts were not marked as paid posts, which misled consumers into thinking that the opinions and evaluations were genuine and free from any conflict of interest. The seven enterprises were deemed to have deliberately mislead consumers.
KFTC is to reinforce the supervision of social media advertising and improve the accuracy of information shared.
These seven enterprises cooperated with influencers on Instagram to promote their products. The influencer publishes posts introducing and recommending the products which include specific topics, photos, etc. designated by the enterprises. Then they’ll receive cash or free products from the enterprises as a reward.
South Korean Guidelines for Advertisement Review stipulate that if there is an economic benefit that affects the content or reliability of recommendations, guarantees, etc., the commercial relationship should be indicated.
A total of 4177 posts were not marked as paid posts, which misled consumers into thinking that the opinions and evaluations were genuine and free from any conflict of interest. The seven enterprises were deemed to have deliberately mislead consumers.
Trends in Regulation
Examples of Product Promotion Posts on Instagram
KFTC is to reinforce the supervision of social media advertising and improve the accuracy of information shared.
Guidelines for Advertisement Review will be revised to clarify specific ways to make consumers aware that the post is an advertisement
Guidelines for Social Network Site Advertisements will be formulated based on SNS’s characteristics.
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