Sponsored Blog Content

• Author: Sophie C. Boerman - Natali Helberger - Guda van Noort - Chris J. Hoofnagle
• Position: Assistant professor of Persuasive Communication, Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR), University of Amsterdam - Professor of Information Law, Institute for Information Law (IViR), University of Amsterdam - Associate professor of Persuasive Communication, Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR), University of Amsterdam ...
• Pages: 146-159

2018

Sophie C. Boerman, Natali Helberger, Guda van Noort and Chris J. Hoofnagle

146

2

Sponsored Blog Content

What do the Regulations Say? And what do Bloggers Say?

by Sophie C. Boerman, Natali Helberger, Guda van Noort and Chris J. Hoofnagle*

© 2018 Sophie C. Boerman, Nata li Helberger, Guda van Noort and Chris J. Hoofnagle

Everybody may disseminate this ar ticle by electronic m eans and make it available for downloa d under the terms and

conditions of the Digital P eer Publishing Licence (DPPL). A copy of the license text may be obtain ed at http://nbn-resolving.

de/urn:nbn:de:0009-dppl-v3-en8.

Recommended citation: So phie C. Boerman, Natali Helberger, Guda van No ort and Chris J. Hoofnagle, Sp onsored Blog Content:

What do the Regulations Say? And what do Blogge rs Say?, 9 (2018) JIPITEC 146 para 1.

United States. We found that 65% of the posts men-

tion brands and products. Yet, only 15% of the blog

posts provided some commercial sponsorship dis-

closure. To determine whether posts mentioning

brands were organic, unsponsored endorsements,

we made repeated attempts to contact authors. Of

those that responded, most claimed that their writ-

ing was not sponsored, but a small number received

remuneration and did not disclose it. Furthermore,

among the disclosing bloggers, we found regular

problems in their sponsorship disclosures: many only

state ‘sponsored’ or ‘affiliated link’; only 1/3 stated

the name of the actual sponsor; most require the us-

ers to “scroll down,”; and most are in the same font

as ordinary text. Our findings raise several regulatory

issues; namely, the need for more concrete guidance

on disclosure format, and it highlights the difficulty of

monitoring compliance with the existing provisions.

In so doing, our findings also provide important input

for the European Commission’s Regulatory Fitness

and Performance exercise, which tackles, among oth-

ers the Unfair Commercial Practice Directive.

Abstract: Influencer marketing – the use of

opinion leaders such as bloggers with many follow-

ers and readers to disseminate product messages

– is gaining advertisers’ interest. This paper pres-

ents the law and self-regulative provisions concern-

ing blog advertising in both Europe and the US and

documents the actual practice of disclosing blog ad-

vertising: whether and if so how, bloggers disclose

influences from advertisers, and how these disclo-

sures align with the regulations in place. The Fed-

eral Trade Commission Act and related guides in the

US, and self-regulative provisions in Europe urge ad-

vertisers and endorsers, such as bloggers, to dis-

close any commercial relationship. These disclosures

should be clear and conspicuous because advertis-

ing to consumers should be recognizable as such. Al-

though advertisers increasingly encourage bloggers

to promote products, it is unclear whether bloggers

comply with disclosure requirements. To test com-

pliance with disclosure requirements, we performed

a content analysis of 200 blog posts drawn from

the top-20-ranked sites in the Netherlands and the

Keywords: Native advertising; advertorial; influencer marketing; sponsored content; advertising regulation;

unfair commercial practice; legal comparrison (US, European Law)