Does the Instagram "Sponsored Content" banner actually work?

What is it about?

The Federal Trade Commission asked social media users to avoid deceiving users with obscure sponsorship disclosure practices and clearly report whenever a post is the result of a monetary relation with the portrayed brand. As on Instagram the disclosure practices where rather heterogeneous (for example, some used hashtags whereas other simply tagged the brand in the post) - the Social Media provided users with a branded content tool that clearly states the presence of a material connection between the brand and the publisher or influencer. Our experiment shows that, with a sample of 232 female participants, that such disclosure is effective but attitudes towards the brand and publisher credibility, together with the intention to share the content with friends - suffer a negative impact that derives from this higher advertising recognition.

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Photo by Maddi Bazzocco on Unsplash

Photo by Maddi Bazzocco on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This study is important as it confirms that Instagram's built-in disclosure tool is indeed effective in signaling the presence of a sponsored content, so its adoption should be desirable and promoted amongst social media as to avoid users deception. Moreover, given the negative impact that ad recognition has on users' attitudes and behavioral intent - we raise the issue that for both brands and publisher the easiest way-out would be that of deceiving and not disclosing. Contrarily, future research should (and is currently showing) that there are viable ways to disclose branded content and still be able not to elicit users' negative reactions.