With advances in technology, it’s possible for brands to take control and prevent influencers from selling counterfeit products on social media. Besides being low quality or even hazardous, counterfeits cost jobs and can fund organized crime, including terrorism. Unfortunately, many influencers don’t understand the ramifications of selling counterfeit products, or that it is even illegal. How easy is it for a successful counterfeit operation to buy influencer ads without sending them any products? Pretty easy. After they found out what the ingredient was, they all denounced the product, but it’s clear no one did any investigating beforehand. One even confessed she doesn’t try half the things she promotes, and her agent said that’s a common practice in the industry. The influencers all read through a script on camera which mentioned the deadly ingredient, though they didn’t seem to notice.
Last year, a prank show on the BBC titled Blindboy Undestroys the World tricked three popular influencers into promoting a drink containing cyanide. They were specifically targeting the fans of these influencers. The listings on Amazon weren’t meant to bring in any shoppers from the site or searchers on Google. Their followers trusted that they were going to receive a knockoff luxury item instead of whatever generic product was on the Amazon page. This scheme shows how powerful influencers can be. In this way, the counterfeiters evaded Amazon’s detection algorithms since they never put a picture of a name-brand item on the site. When they made a purchase, they would get the counterfeit luxury item. If people followed the Amazon link, they would see the generic item. The “Order This” text would point to a generic item, and the “Get This” text would point to a counterfeit luxury item, like a Gucci wallet. Influencers would create an “Order This/Get This” advertisement on Instagram, TikTok, or another social media site. They were using generic sales pages on Amazon as fronts to sell other fake products that were advertised on social media. The problem wasn’t just that they were selling fake products on Amazon. On November 12, 2020, Amazon announced a lawsuit against 13 bad actors who were using social media to promote fake sales. Learn best tips to protect your brand on the top social media platforms Amazon’s Lawsuit Against Influencers and Counterfeits Followers are extremely easy to buy, and many brands have wasted thousands of dollars on “influencers” with audiences made up of bots and fake accounts. To the budding brand, fake influencers are another thing to watch out for. Advertising these types of products is easy on visual platforms like Instagram and TikTok. And in 2016, the OECD found that leather goods, clothing, and footwear account for over half of all counterfeit seizures. Social media brings a feeling of community to shopping, and that’s powerful.Ī 2019 study by analytics firm Ghost Data found that over 15% of posts with branded and commercial hashtags led to counterfeit products. People who follow influencers tend to think of influencers more like friends or acquaintances rather than advertisers. The downside is when those recommendations lead to counterfeit products. It’s estimated to be worth $9.7 billion in 2020.Ĭan you think of another industry growing that fast? People clearly trust influencers and make purchases based on their recommendations. Because of that, the influencer marketing industry has grown by at least 50% every year since 2016. According to Influencer Marketing Hub, the average campaign returns $5.78 for every dollar spent. Influencer marketing has become an effective way for brands to promote their products. Brands can monitor social media with image recognition tools.Influencers have been known to sell shady items.Amazon filed a recent lawsuit against a number of influencers.
In this article, we’ll take a look at the different ways influencers can erode brand reputation and what brands can do about it. Unfortunately, influencers and counterfeits can go hand in hand: counterfeits are easy to come by, suppliers are eager to move products, and followers purchase anything their trusted influencer promotes.įor some influencers, it doesn’t matter what they promote as long as they benefit from the partnership. Many influencers partner with legitimate brands to promote genuine products, but some choose another path. CHECK OUT THE SOCIAL MEDIA PROTECTION PLAN AVAILABLE FOR YOU
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