Covering this story got me banned from Famebit even before the video was posted! But it needs to be told. Influencer marketing must change and brands need to be more careful about how they spend their dollars with influencer marketing firms.
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This whole issue started last year when Famebit emailed me offering 0 to do a positive review of the Ring Doorbell. I turned down the offer when the person representing Famebit said that the review had to be positive in nature.
I mentioned the incident a few months ago when I took one of our first sponsorships on the channel as to the sorts of things I would not accept as a creator. So I felt it was necessary to bring it up when I actually bought a Ring Doorbell for my home.
Following the video’s publication I heard from Famebit who said that brands required the videos to be positive in nature.
“I hope you can understand that a brand would not be able to pay a creator to do a negative review of a product,” wrote Famebit Community Manager Adam Hendle to me in an email, “That’s like Michael Jordan bashing a new pair of Nikes and getting paid to do it.”
The problem with Hendle’s statement is that Michael Jordan doesn’t review sneakers. He endorses them. And that’s essentially what Famebit is asking reviewers to do: endorse products and mask them as independent reviews.
Federal Trade Commission guidelines in the United States are very clear that anyone receiving any kind of compensation — including free product — must disclose the nature of that compensation in the video. From what I’ve seen of the Ring Doorbell reviews that does not appear to be the case. Few even acknowledging receiving the doorbell for free let alone the fact they were compensated for it.
This is the problem with influencer marketing right now. Companies are not requiring creators to follow the law in offering proper disclosures and this sort of practice is impacting the credibility of those who don’t engage in this behavior.
My hope is that this video will bring out discussion that will lead to changes both in how Famebit operates (although given their outright ban on my account I doubt that to be the case) and how brands look at the type of content they wish to sponsor.
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