On Thursday, March 23rd, Penn State graduate and current vice president of SHIFT public relations in New York city, Alan Marcus, spoke to students about FCC compliance in public relations and what the do’s and don’ts are. His main topic covered during this lecture was the ethical dilemmas when using social media for marketing. Also, he presented the ethical issues and mistakes that certain companies have come across in their use of social media.
According to Controversy in Contemporary Advertising by Kim Bartel Sheehan of the University of Oregon, social media marketing has become a useful tool because it makes social media users think that celebrities and other popular social media figures actually use and like products that they promote (Sheehan, 237). This is something that was also said by Alan Marcus.
Marcus first presented the strategy of using social media as a marketing tool and why it is so powerful in reaching audiences. First brands identify “influencers” who have a lot of followers on social media. Then these brands pay the influencers to post on their different social platforms about how amazing the product is. Then, the consumers that follow this influencer on social media are swayed to buy this product because their favorite celebrity loves it so they do as well. The obvious ethical issue here, pointed out by Marcus, is that these influencers on social media are not telling the masses that they are being paid to advertise such products.
This is an obvious ethical issue because when people see their favorite celebrity using a product, they will want to buy it. By not presenting these ads as ads brands have found a way to make people see their products without paying for it. According to Marcus, and the FCC, the best way to avoid these ethical issues is by placing a hashtag in social media posts that says, “#ad” or “#paid”.
Also presented by Marcus was an array of mistakes made by brands that ultimately hurt their image. Warner Brothers, in the lead up to the release of a video game, paid popular youtube gamers to play there game and to give it great reviews, even though the game had bugs and issues. Upon the release of the game to the public, may gamers found out that the game was awful and full of glitches. In the end, Warner Brothers had to pay a fine to the FCC. This case presents what I find to be the most important aspect of any ethical decision, be honest and truthful. According to Alan Andreasen’s book Ethics in Social marketing being truthful is what matters (Andreasen, 3). By not being honest with the public and telling people the youtube gamers were on payroll, Warner Brothers lied and presented their product in a bad way.
In the end, I relized the grave importance of identifying a social media ad as an ad. By telling an influencer to tell the world that your product is great without telling them that it is an ad, you are telling the consumers a lie essentially. By disclosing that you are advertising through an influencer, you are being honest with the public and you are presenting your brand in a good way.
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