Companies warned against deceptive advertising on Twitter
11 Jan 2011
Companies signing up celebrities for advertising products on Twitter have been warned by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in the UK, to be clear about their methods.
According to OFT it should be clear to people that those pushing products or services are getting paid in cash or with gifts.
Given that the likes of Lily Allen, Liz Hurley and Peter Andre's have millions of followers, companies would be only too keen to leverage their popularity to push products.
However, the OFT seems to be gearing up to end the practice it describes as ''deceptive'' advertising.
The OFT in a statement said: "Online advertising and marketing practices that do not disclose they include paid for promotions are deceptive under trading laws."
In the US this type of advertising is big business already with stars like Kim Kardashian, with 6,000,000 followers, earning thousands of pounds for one-line endorsements on the site. Others to have followed are Snoop Dog and Lindsay Lohan.