There are influencers on social media who freely give advice on what and how to eat. But Marlene Schwartz, director of the University of 黑料吃瓜网's , says there鈥檚 one thing these influencers are less likely to freely give up: information on who's paying them to produce their content.
鈥淭he food industry, of course, pays for regular commercials and ads, which we can all recognize pretty easily,鈥� Schwartz said. 鈥淏ut then they also do things like paying social media influencers to talk to their audiences about their products. And, the people watching won't necessarily know that that message is paid for.鈥�
Even licensed professionals produce sponsored content
An example of this was what happened after the called the artificial sweetener aspartame "possibly carcinogenic,鈥� Schwartz says.
鈥淔ollowing that,鈥� Schwartz said, 鈥渋t seemed like there was a very coordinated effort among places like the 鈥� which of course, is the industry group for Coke and Pepsi that have products like diet soda that have aspartame 鈥� to have their social media dietitian influencers talk to their audiences, saying that they didn't really believe the World Health Organization and they thought that these products were fine.鈥�
These registered dieticians posted content online trying to reassure people saying these products are fine, as if they were acting independently, Schwartz said.
鈥淭o then find out that they're being paid by the companies is a real concern,鈥� she said.
鈥楧ig deeper鈥� to find sponsorship disclosures
Influencers are legally required to make it known if they are getting paid for an online video, but Schwartz said they often bury that information in a long series of hashtags.
鈥淪ometimes the clues are very subtle, such as '#dot, #ad, or #sponsored,'鈥� Schwartz said. "And that's in there along with all the other hashtags. And so you have to sometimes ask, 'is this being paid for?鈥� 'Who is sponsoring this post?' And then you may get the answer there.鈥�
鈥淚 think it would be helpful for people to maintain a healthy dose of skepticism when they see someone on social media promoting branded products or promoting something that doesn't quite sound right, like 'let your children have as much sugar as they want!'" Schwartz said. "So there's some kind of common sense that's required and digging deeper to see if the individual who's speaking is being funded.鈥�
