By Rebecca Lo

1. The Importance
of Disclosing
Sponsorships
Rebecca Lo

2. CRISIS:
The poor performance of traditional display and
banner ads requires a new strategy. (Matrix)

3. Enter native
advertisements
“Online advertising in which:
(1) the consumer gives permission to
the advertiser to communicate
with them
(2) the ad format minimizes
disruption to the user experience
in which it is placed” (Campbell)

4. The Goal:
Consumers should have the same reaction as if they
clicked on regular editorial content (Matrix)

5. However,
Some ads fail to disclose sponsorship to
consumers, possibly tricking consumers
into viewing content that they think is
unbiased (Campbell)

6. Advertisers and content
producers should be
required to disclose
sponsored content.

7. Intentionally hiding sponsorship
exploits consumers who have a
relationship of trust with content
producers.

8. On platforms like YouTube, content
creators get popular because their
viewers get to know them.

9. They essentially become friends and
the relationship is a trusting one.

10. A recent study found that 84% of consumers
trusted recommendations from people they
knew, as compared to ads on TV (62%) (“Under the
influence: Consumer trust in advertising”)

11. If consumers find out about
intentionally hidden
sponsorships, it tarnishes the
reputations of both the
advertisers and the content
producers.

12. “The Office of Fair Trading, the British equivalent of
the United States Federal Trade Commission, has
determined that the hiring of […] social media
contributors to promote particular products without
adequate disclosure of the relationship may violate
U.K. consumer protection laws” (Robinson)

13. “The influencers are
influenced. Can't really
blame them but I think it's
a valid reason to seek
alternatives” (“Influencer trips and
why I won’t be purchasing Tarte products
again”)

14. Are there any solutions?

15. "Ultimately, it pays to be
honest.”
“Vloggers build their fan base on the
originality and authenticity of the material
they produce. It’s potentially damaging to
their reputation to be found to have
hidden the fact that the content they're
producing is paid for and controlled by an
advertiser“ (Harley)

16. “’Sponsored’ simply means some sort of payment
has exchanged hands between brand and
blogger in either cash, product or services” (Summers)

17. “Sponsorship does not have to mean that the blogger
has regurgitated pre-written content, used images from
a retailer's website and thrown in some links” (Summers)

18. “By [creating] interesting, informative, useful and engaging
[content] that is also clearly marked as sponsored content,
you're proving that just because you received payment to
[create] it doesn't mean it's less worthy than the rest of your
output” (Summers)

19. Works Cited
Campbell, Colin, and Lawrence J. Marks. “Good native advertising isn’t a secret.” Business Horizons, vol. 58, no. 6,
2015, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2015.06.003.
Harley, Nicola. “Hidden advertising by vloggers under the spotlight.” The Telegraph, 26 Nov. 2014,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11255077/Hidden-advertising-by-vloggers-
under-the-spotlight.html.
“Influencer trips and why I won’t be purchasing Tarte products again.” Reddit, 18 Oct. 2016,
https://www.reddit.com/r/MakeupAddiction/comments/5874i2/influencer_trips_and_why_i_wont_be_pu
rchasing/.
Matrix, Sidneyeve. “Consumer Culture and Advertising Strategies.” Film 240 Lecture, 28 Sept. 2016, Queen’s University.
Lecture.
Matrix, Sidneyeve. “Public Relations.” Film 240 Lecture, 05 Oct. 2016, Queen’s University. Online Lecture.
Robinson, Eric P. “U.K. Extends Consumer Disclosure Laws Online, As In U.S.” Digital Media Law Project, 14 Jan.
2011, http://www.dmlp.org/blog/2011/uk-extends-consumer-disclosure-laws-online-us.
Summers, Catherine. “Bloggers: Why You Must Disclose Sponsorship, and Readers: Why Not All Sponsored Posts
Are Bad.” Not Dressed As Lamb, 04 May 2016, http://www.notdressedaslamb.com/2016/05/bloggers-why-you-
must-disclose-sponsorship-readers-why-not-all-sponsored-posts-are-bad.html.
“Under the Influence: Consumer Trust in Advertising.” Nielsen, 17 September 2013,
http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2013/under-the-influence-consumer-trust-in-
advertising.html.

20. All pictures used are under the Creative Commons
license. They are listed in order of use.
Damian Zaleski, Unsplash
Kash Goudarzi, Unsplash
Jaelynn Castillo, Unsplash
Jaoa Silas, Unsplash
Wles van Erp, Flickr
Amy Marbach, Flickr
Fetmano, Flickr
Tim Gouw, Unsplash
Harli Marten, Unsplash
Olu Eletu, Unsplash
Steiner La Engeland, Unsplash
Olu Eletu, Unsplash
Milada Vigerova, Unsplash
iDriss Fettoul, Unsplash
Nick Karvounis, Unsplash
Bench Accounting, Unsplash
Brenna Daugherty, Flickr
Thomas Lefebvre, Unsplash