Australia Post caught out over use of paid Instagrammer endorsements
Postal service Australia Post appears to have been caught out over its use of social media influencers, after it emerged it was paying people without disclosing that their endorsements were being paid for.
Talent management agency Moda Creative is understood to have paid instagrammers, including Ashy Bines, Camilla Akerberg and Jeska Lee, on behalf of Australian Post for the posts, which appear to be in breach of Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) guidelines for online reviews.
Some of the instagrammers involved have up to 400,000 followers and appear to have been deleting comments critical of the lack of disclosure.
The matter was first flagged with Australia Post by users on social media. When approached by the media about the matter a spokesman for the organisation would not comment on whether the posts were paid but said: “Australia Post requires our suppliers to comply with ACCC guidelines for online reviews and include the appropriate disclosures.
Does the ACCC apply to a government organisation like Aus post?
Hi Bully, yes it does. Australia Post operates like any other business its just that its shareholder is the Australian government.
Cheers
Nic – Mumbrella
It’s a bit blurry. Those guidelines apply to platforms which operate primarily to provide reviews on products and services. Applying those rules to Instagram is a stretch.
Then again – who cares. it’s advertising. it actually doesn’t matter that much.
Model sheridyn fisher also gets paid to promote things like Australia post.
http://www.instagram.com/sheridynfisher
Australia post is like, literally the best thing ever.
Like oh my god, I literally can’t even right now.
Furthermore, what would it matter anyway? 99% of responses to these posts are just compliments on what the girls are wearing. I daresay none of their target market even read the text, they probably just thought it was a plug for some clothing.
Why do people think it is so suspicious for a model with an audience of thousands to spontaneously praise her nation’s postal service?
Youtuber Lauren curtis did a vlog about aus post’s locker service… Didn’t disclose it was a paid deal
Sophie Guidolin did it too!
I’m seeing these paid posts everywhere. They should be disclosing that they are being paid for those posts. Very misleading I think,
Isn’t ashley Bines a millionaire? Why would she need to be paid for posts?
Such a non-issue IMO. Lots of bloggers post sponsored content. I’m not sure why these three girls have been singled out.
Because an organisation with a monopoly such as Auspost should know better. And bloggers trying to pull the wool over should wake up and realise it’s not cool to assume all your readers are stupid.
My main problem with it, is that taxpayers money is being used for this unethical promotion, while other Australia Post services are being cut back.
Does this apply to Youtube too? Lauren Curtis did a video that heavily featured Australia Post. No disclosure at all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7_0peCs2bQ
Who cares??? Lame news
The most insulting thing about this debacle is the fact that these people are getting paid – paid actual money – to write such inanities.
It doesn’t matter what platform you’re looking at. Testimonials that are paid for must be disclosed under the Consumer Laws. Infomercials – remember those? Well, the exact same rules apply to doing stuff on social media so you get things legally vetted to avoid falling foul of the law (and being slapped with huge fines). It is much stricter in the US where it is compulsory to add “SPON” to the end of posts.
Perhaps this is why Australia Post now can’t perform the simple task of delivering a letter – too busy paying people to blog/instagram/etc. Stick to delivering the mail, you might get it right one day.
So the wash up on this seems to be one Instagram influencer deleted the post, one added ‘sponsored post by @auspost’ and one added an ‘*’ directing people to well, nothing.
I would be genuinely surprised if this wasn’t investigated by the ACCC, particularly after their 2014 Online Disclosure amendment. As Sara D highlights, these posts look very likely to be in breach of the requirement under consumer law to disclose paid product or services, and is not a precedent that should be followed or as many commenters here seem to feel, something that should be met with a shrug.
As a very hearty thread here last year covered, we (the majority) seem to feel strongly that advertorials in news need to be disclosed clearly as being ‘ads’ because simply the value of a seemingly independent editorial view is of influence to an audience.
‘Influencers’ online hold the same currency. Their audiences value their opinion, and if that opinion is sponsored or paid for (in not just dollar but also goods exchange), it should be clearly stated. Simple. And important.
Consumer – I think you’ll find it is not taxpayers money as such. As I understand it, Australia Post is a self-funding organisation that actually pays a dividend to government. So, if it doesn’t earn a dollar, it can’t spend a dollar.
Good spot Mumbrella – as well as illegal, it’s a complete betrayal of fans’ trust to feed them sponsored messages which are not marked.