March 15, 2021
20:59
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Secretary of State for Consumer Protection Eva De Bleeker urges users of social media to report misleading advertising on the platforms via the reporting center of the federal public service Economy.
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Social media, and especially Instagram, is full of it: influencers who put products in the spotlight on their own channels and are sponsored by the company in return – whether or not in kind. But those influencers are not always in good faith and sometimes promote questionable products.
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Last weekend, Secretary of State for Consumer Protection Eva De Bleeker (Open VLD) therefore launched a playful campaign. She had five Belgian influencers post messages about face cream with ivory, sustainable cigarettes, fake handbags, a dating site with fake profiles or a savings account with an interest of 10 percent. In short: unrealistic or incompatible products.
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Scam
She wants to use this to encourage young people to always critically review influencer marketing on social media. She therefore highlights the platform of the FPS Economy where people can report possible scams. The Jury for Ethical Practices on Advertising (JEP) opened 27 files in 2019 following complaints about social media. According to De Bleeker, there are still too few.
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Influencers don’t always act in good faith and sometimes promote questionable products.
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In the long term, De Bleeker is working with the sector on a clearer legal framework, she announced at a press conference on Monday. In the absence of clear regulations, it is not always clear whether it is advertising and, moreover, the consumer is not always sure that the products being promoted and the website where you can buy them really exist.
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