If you earn money online through product place­ments and pro­mo­tions, you should fa­mil­i­ar­ise yourself with the reg­u­la­tions sur­round­ing sur­repti­tious ad­vert­ising. As stealth marketing becomes more and more re­cog­nised, reg­u­lat­ors are becoming more active in ensuring that this form of ad­vert­ising still acts within the limits of the law.

How do we define stealth marketing?

In essence, sur­repti­tious ad­vert­ising is when a customer gets a product ad­vert­ised to them without knowing that it is happening. That means that stealth marketing occurs when ad­vert­ising is not labelled as such, or when the purpose of the ad­vert­ise­ment is concealed. For example, product placement in TV shows, sponsored posts on social media, or social val­id­a­tion (e.g. through lots of positive reviews) can all be con­sidered sur­repti­tious ad­vert­ising, although they’re not all quite the same thing (see below).

Some forms are more per­miss­ible than others. But the key point to take away is that it needs to be clear on some level that the promotion or high­light­ing of a par­tic­u­lar product is in­centiv­ised.

Stealth marketing, also known as un­der­cov­er marketing, has been around for a long time. Remember in­fomer­cials and paid actors in public product demon­stra­tions? These forms of stealth marketing are now less common, but online it’s a different story.

Here are some tips for spotting sur­repti­tious ad­vert­ising:

  • The ad­vert­ising isn’t labelled as ad­vert­ising.
  • Sur­repti­tious ad­vert­ising may involve the promotion of products, goods, food, services, brands or companies.
  • Stealth marketing is carried out in return for ‘secret payments’ because the customer or viewer is unaware of the ad­vert­ising taking place, and both the ad­vert­iser and the business benefit.

What are the con­sequences of stealth marketing?

At the moment, stealth marketing is fairly un­reg­u­lated, although not without con­tro­versy. Even as far back as 2008, the press reported on stealth marketing as a po­ten­tially sneaky form of ad­vert­ising. For busi­nesses, the con­sequences of stealth marketing are almost ex­clus­ively positive. Customers see products in en­vir­on­ments they admire or want to be part of, such as in films or TV, for example. Social media is a powerful way for companies to promote their products through public figures that command the respect and ad­mir­a­tion of the public, and thereby place their product within that respect and ad­mir­a­tion. Now that many profiles have millions of followers, it is also an effective way of reaching a wide and diverse audience.

However, the in­her­ently sneak­i­ness of stealth marketing can have its downsides. If people feel a business isn’t being trans­par­ent and clear that it is marketing its product, people may feel that they are being ma­nip­u­lated. This could have a negative con­sequence for a business because if it seems like a business is too ag­gress­ive or ma­nip­u­lat­ive in its ad­vert­ising, it won’t be be­ne­fi­cial for its PR. One of the reasons why the Unfair Com­mer­cial Practices Directive (UCPD) is tight­en­ing re­stric­tions on stealth marketing is because it is ma­nip­u­lat­ive.

Ad­di­tion­ally, if a company or in­di­vidu­al is found to be breaching the reg­u­la­tions around stealth marketing, they could incur heavy fines. Penalties are adjusted to the severity of the violation, but it is possible to face a £5,000 fine and up to two years’ in­car­cer­a­tion. Writing or hosting fake reviews can lead to fines of up to 10 per cent of a company’s global turnover. This is why it’s so important to know what the reg­u­la­tions regarding stealth marketing in the UK are.

What are the reg­u­la­tions around stealth marketing?

The main reg­u­la­tion in the UK which affects stealth marketing practices is the Unfair Com­mer­cial Practices Directive (UCPD). Paragraph 11 of the UCPD act states that: “11. Using editorial content in the media to promote a product where a trader has paid for the promotion without making that clear in the content or by images or sounds clearly iden­ti­fi­able by the consumer (ad­vertori­al)”.

What this means is that if it isn’t expressed in some way that the marketing material has been paid for by a business, for example, then this form of marketing breaches the UCPD. Make sure you make any com­mer­cial re­la­tion­ship between yourself and a company clear. If you’re being paid or in­centiv­ised to promote a product on social media, you need to make that known.

Ad­di­tion­ally, paragraph 22 of the act further states that: “22. Falsely claiming or creating the im­pres­sion that the trader is not acting for purposes relating to his trade, business, craft or pro­fes­sion, or falsely rep­res­ent­ing oneself as a consumer”. This is another violation. Creating false reviews of a product could be an example of this kind of pro­hib­ited ad­vert­ising.

‘Stealth’ or ‘un­der­cov­er’ marketing activ­it­ies actually became illegal in Japan on 1 October 2023, under the Act against Un­jus­ti­fi­able Premiums and Mis­lead­ing Rep­res­ent­a­tions of Japan (the AUPMR).

Stealth marketing vs product placement—is there a dif­fer­ence?

Sur­repti­tious ad­vert­ising is not ne­ces­sar­ily syn­onym­ous with product placement. Stealth marketing can include other forms of ‘invisible marketing’. Anyone who earns money by ad­vert­ising things might want to label their post or video, for example, as product placement in order to avoid being accused of being disin­genu­ous. Let’s take a look at the kinds of stealth marketing that in­flu­ences, and bloggers might encounter.

What kind of stealth marketing is OK for in­flu­en­cers and bloggers?

Product placement by in­flu­en­cers is not auto­mat­ic­ally sur­repti­tious ad­vert­ising, even if this is not marked. So if you want to become an in­flu­en­cer and make money with Instagram, e.g. by promoting products, make sure that this is noted as product placement or a sponsored post. This is the best way to prevent ac­cus­a­tions of being dishonest with sur­repti­tious ad­vert­ising.

Getting freebies and benefits such as travel could also be seen as stealth marketing. Affiliate marketing links could count as stealth marketing. Other marketing methods relevant to stealth marketing methods include:

Anyone who wants to make money via blogging, on Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok will be under scrutiny for stealth marketing. If you recommend products from busi­nesses, for example, or tag them or showcase them, make sure that you label this somehow.

Case study: You are an in­flu­en­cer and your content focuses on healthy nutrition on your social media channels. A company sends you a new dietary sup­ple­ment and requests that you try it out. Of course, you also want to tell your followers about the product. To be on the safe side, you can tag your post with the hashtag #ad or #sponsored. Without labelling, you would be engaging in stealth marketing, which is becoming ever more scru­tin­ised. And you’re putting yourself at risk of violating the UCPD.

Please note the legal dis­claim­er relating to this article.

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