Advertising watchdog truthinadvertising.org (TINA.org) has submitted a letter seeking enforcement action against companies that have worked with the Kardashian/Jenner family on sponsored Instagram posts.
The letter, addressed to the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, DC, calls for action against the companies and individuals that are not making it clear to consumers that certain posts promoting a product are sponsored by failing to include the hashtag #ad.
TINA.org recently investigated marketing posts on the Instagram accounts of the Kardashian/Jenner family and found “a plethora of posts” that allegedly do not clearly disclose the individuals’ material connections to the companies featured or promoted.
Companies accused of sponsoring such posts include: Estée Lauder, OUAI Haircare, Revlon (for Sinful Colors) and SugarBearHair, among several others.
The Kardashian/Jenner family and the companies that have a commercial relationship with them have ignored this law for far too long, and it's time that they were held accountable
Bonnie Patten, TINA.org Executive Director
The watchdog contacted representatives of the Kardashian/Jenner family and companies involved, which did prompt some action; 21 of the 108 posts were corrected to include #ad at the beginning of the caption, while six were edited to include the hashtag at the end.
However, 75 remain unchanged, with two found to include #spon at the end of the caption, which was deemed insufficient.
Since this investigation, new posts have been published on the families’ Instagram feeds that are also deemed to breach advertising regulations.
Rather than putting the blame on the Kardashians/Jenners, TINA.org stated that “it is apparent that the issue is with the companies, who continue to flagrantly ignore the law”.
TINA.org noted that an attorney for the Kardashians/Jenners said it was “working diligently to fix the items in the database” by adhering to the #ad disclaimer requirement.
TINA.org Executive Director Bonnie Patten said: “"TINA.org is happy to see they are taking steps in the right direction but this issue does not go away until all ads disguised as ordinary social media posts are clearly labeled as ads.
“The Kardashian/Jenner family and the companies that have a commercial relationship with them have ignored this law for far too long, and it's time that they were held accountable."
