Beware of Social Influencers Puffery

[Applause]

how many us do you think

we actually see in a day dozen

a hundred or maybe thousand

back in the 70s the average person saw

500 ads per day and this number

made doubles nowadays with online

marketing

as we are moving away from our

tvs towards our mobile phone

companies to remain relevant we are

seeing a paradigm

shift from traditional marketing

towards more digital and individualized

medium

and the major players in this new

transformation

are social media influencers

those of you who use social media

depending on your taste or preference

or even your interest you are probably

following those influencers

who share content about fashion

food travel or even

parenting tips the appearance of social

media in our daily life

is quite unique phenomena

many people rely on them and even trust

them

but little is understood how much power

those influencers exert on our behavior

and emotions their ability

to get recognition and fame by posting

the most attractive and eye-catching

content

through their preferred social media

platforms

to broaden their followers portfolio

with the most

passionate and committed individuals

but what gave them this ability

their sexy physique their attractive or

fleshy content

maybe but the most

power comes from the trust

that those influencers built

with their followers speaking about

trust

have a media did a study and show

that only 22 percent

of brands are trusted

however brands can cooperate

with those influencers

and immediately they gain a level of

credibility

recent study shows that 82 percent of

consumers

trust those influencer marketing

than traditional one to this extent

influencer marketing became a powerful

form of advertising offering a

competitive return on investment

and allowing brands to extend their

market segment

and here my friend comes in

a puffer fish it’s a common

looking fish but actually it has the

ability

to puff up embellish itself

to be three times larger

you know this concept also

we can find it in advertisement world

but the word is known as puffery

a perfe is an exaggerated claim

or vague opinion

it’s legal and traditional advertisement

use it from this long time ago

but we are aware about these practices

then such claim we cannot take it

seriously

i will give you the example for instance

when you are passing by burger place

and the burger that you receive

will not be the same as the picture the

exaggerated picture

and also when you are seeing such cream

i think you are not believing that we

stay young forever

we understood that just a slogan company

we are not taking those

as taking seriously those claims

but think what i said earlier

the advertisement is shifting toward a

new

paradigm leading by whom by the powerful

influencers in one side

they have enormous amount of trust

among their followers meaning whatever

they said

may be taken seriously and in other hand

they are not held liable for their

content

meaning is they are free to express

their opinion

in social media platforms now

that you know what puffery is about let

me share my own story

the story that led raising a question

about

influencer puffy content practices

moving here to korea i had to take a

standard health check

the doctor saw me and said i was

overweight

i really took it seriously i looked into

the option

how to became healthier and even i went

to those

personal trainer but seeing the price i

ran away

and after that i decide to turn to those

influencers

the account that i follow they will

their daily transformation weight loss

pictures and also they will provide you

with content what they are eating in a

day

to maintain a caloric deficit those

uploaded with you

they will provide you with the best

solution ever to lose weight

including the best protein to take the

healthy meal to prepare

and even the ultimate workouts to do

call me naive but i follow those

influencers diligently

i did everything long story short

after about one month i realized that i

was

building an unhealthy relationship with

food

exercise and even my body

food seems to be something i couldn’t

enjoy

exercise it became a punishment

and my health was never healthy enough

truth to be told the image

that i would see myself in the mirror

versus the truth i want to believe those

influencer

was too much far from each other cannot

sustain

and at the end i felt miserable

and here i get this question why should

influencer puff free content seen

differently from brand puffy content

in the advertisement rules regulation

are well established to promote

fair competition and also to promote

consumers

to promote to protect us

and also like you said me and you we are

skeptical about

brands and advertisement then it’s very

hard to be misled by those

brand puffy content but in other hand

influencers are seen as trustworthy

and credible individuals rules

principles and even values are not well

established

in social media sitting resulting

in very fuzzy context it’s very very

hard

to make a difference between a puff free

content

and genuine one while you are listening

to my story

some of you may wonder why i followed

this

influencer in the first place actually

looking back

why i followed and even trust those

influencers

and consuming the content and even

buying those recommended items i

realized that i was completely detached

from who i was as a person yes

i was aware there is a problem health

problem

and even i understood what to do what i

wanted

reducing my weight and having a healthy

lifestyle

but yet i was completely detached

completely disconnected from the process

how to do it i was just focused

on the quick fix i want a result

now and this is why i was relying on

those influencers

because those influencers they are rely

on our weaknesses

they are relying our insecurities and

everyone has his own securities

body image maybe relationship

or even job they will provide you with

content i am pretty sure that you saw

some of these

contents how to lose weight in 10 days

be millionaire in six months or even

get shredded without workout those

videos with

absurd titles and verified method

they will give you the instant

gratification

where you feel inspired motivated

and even empowered

actually in my case i felt related to

those influencers

and followers why because

they have the same situation as me they

struggle

like i struggled then unconsciously

i project myself to them

and in that connection and this is very

tricky part in that connection my common

sense

and my instant diminished i couldn’t

make a difference between what is right

and what is wrong

actually those content they will create

an illusion bubble for you when

the video is over the bubble

start to fade but with much content

online

you will find always a video or tips to

make this bubble alive

to make it worse even the technology

escalate the issue how when you are

following some

someone you will get those notification