Advertising regulations‘might curb deception’
The Mail & Guardian spoke to South African-based influencers to find out whether they intend to implement the new rules.
Lesego Legobane, known as Thickleeyonce, is a “lifestyle influencer” on Instagram with 417 000 followers. She said: “I always say with paid ads, followers can always pick it up, because whether you are authentic or not, when you are doing an ad for brands it’s kinda always obvious — and followers can always tell. Adding that it’s an ad doesn’t make a difference. If anything, it makes my life easier, because I would not be held accountable for whatever it is that the brand is doing should anything go down south.
“It’s only fair for the audience to know in that particular moment that this is a paid-for post, and what I am doing is advertising to you.”
Legobane believes the rules will make influencers tap more into their creativity. “It will put pressure for people to create something captivating and worth looking at.”
Sarah Langa has just over 200 000 followers on Instagram. She said: “Before, there were not so many rules and regulations as to how digital and social media could be done. We have to be more cautious now and comply with the rules.
“It’s always a responsibility of our clients to inform us — and always make us aware,” she added.
Palesa Kgasane, who primarily works as an editor/writer for her online platform Mzansi Moodboard, also does her influencing work on Instagram, where she has 11 700 followers. She said the rules are fair, but pose a challenge. “I’m all about authenticity, but I think we are all very aware that making content sellable without sounding like a salesperson is a tough challenge.
“It will also challenge marketers to think out of the box when approaching influencers to collaborate with ... It’s also going to require a lot of honesty from influencers/ content producers.”
Kgaugelo Maphai, managing director at the Mediashop, said: “I think for micro influencers [the rules] may hamper their audience figures. Micro influencers are trying to build up their following by pushing out authentic content ... However, I believe that by adding in an identifier, it may impact the trust of their followers. I really think rules should be carefully considered before applying them fully and should maybe be an option, should the influencer wish to use them when signing on a brand.”
Fashion and beauty specialist Afika Jadezweni said having identifiers might curb a lot of deception on social media. “Sometimes there is a level of dishonesty, where people want to portray influencing as a kind of naturally earned lifestyle, but actually it creates more trust for your followers and consumers if, once in a while, they see you saying ‘I do not actually like this product’.” — Tshegofatso Mathe