Warner Bros. was slammed by FTC for not clearly representing that Felix Kjellberg (popularly known on YouTube as PewDiePie) and other online “influencers” were paid as part of a marketing campaign for Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. While it seems like the FTC is simply telling Warner Bros.to never do this again, this case can be used as an example to curtail similar situations from arising in the future. The Federal Trade Commission has been investigating and they’ve just presented their findings.
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“Under a proposed FTC order announced today, Warner Bros.is barred from failing to make such disclosures in the future and can not misrepresent that sponsored content, including gameplay videos, are the objective, independent opinions of video game enthusiasts or influencers”, the FTC said in their statement. Warner Bros. had paid several YouTubers (including PewDiePie) upwards of five figures to make videos about the game, asking these “influencers” to stay positive and to avoid mentioning any bugs they might have found in the game.
The FTC contended that the resulting videos were essentially paid ads for “Shadows of Mordor“, and Warner Bros. failed to require the influencers to “clearly and conspicuously” disclose the fact in a place where consumers were likely to see them.
The FTC has been monitoring native advertising and online endorsements since previous year, cracking down on deceptive marketing campaigns where the influencers fail to disclose a financial relationship with the product they’re promoting.
The original complaint alleged that Plaid Social’s hiring of multiple notable “influencers”, including YouTubers like PewDiePie, to publish positive videos and social media posts about Shadow of Mordor, did not stand up to the FTC’s strict disclosure guidelines. When the same videos were posted on Facebook or Twitter, the disclosure did not move to those sites, the complaint alleges. These influencers were paid thousands of dollars for their work and were provided with advance copies of the game.
According to the FTC’s complaint, Warner Bros. wanted to generate buzz in the gaming community for its 2014 role-playing fantasy game that was loosely based on “The Hobbit” and “Lord of the Rings” movie trilogies.
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What’s more, the FTC claims that the contracts between Warner Bros. and influencers required the hosts to submit their videos to Warner Bros. for pre-approval. But even further, Warner Bros. must ensure any third-party entity they hire also follows these rules. These steps include educating influencers regarding sponsorship disclosures, monitoring sponsored influencer videos for compliance, and, under certain circumstances, terminating or withholding payment from influencers or ad agencies for non-compliance.
