In a perfect world, there would be some standard series of disclaimers a spokesperson needed to honestly choose from among. For example:
[ ] I am a (paid) actor who has never used the product/service
[ ] I am a (paid) customer of said product/service stating my personal opinion
[ ] I am a (paid) customer of said product/service reciting lines prewritten for me by the company
etc.
Then perhaps a series of choices as to whether they are investors or employees of the company, how much they are willing to vouch for the company, etc. If not for the sake of honesty, the other theory being that someone who has "put their money where their mouth is" would be a more compelling influencer.
Ha! Rather, I don't think anyone has any incentive to disclose their true involvement. For example, we all know that people will buy celebrity branded crap. If a shoe company paid you tens of millions to turn your name into a high-priced shoe line, even though the shoes were crap, most people would just take the money. The assumption being you are paying for the logo, a symbol you could afford to pay some absurd price for pure crap, rather than for the quality of the product (think Yeezy). This would hold true even if you checked the box "I'm a celebrity endorser who gets a fee for the use of my name; I make no representation I've ever used any particular product."
Absent the general public caring about whether a celebrity endorsement implies a product/service is any good, there is no incentive for any celebrity endorser to go out on a limb. Rather, they just assume that the customer will assume they did proper due diligence and stand behind what they are selling, when in actuality they are just cashing in on their name regardless. If anyone figures out how to save people from themselves, please let me know lol.
- Jeff |
