There's No Such Thing As A Free Sample

Social media allows users to effortlessly communicate globally with nothing more than a few keystrokes.  Advertisers have harnessed the power of social media bloggers and incorporated it as a key component of their advertising campaigns.  This practice is known as "consumer-to-consumer" marketing or "consumer-generated media" marketing.  While consumer-to-consumer marketing is a prevalent practice, especially in the fashion industry, the use of bloggers to promote fashion products to consumers necessitates compliance issues under the Federal Trade Commission Act.

In recent years, social media has played an ever-increasing role in the advertising strategies of big and small fashion companies.  In particular, companies seek out individuals with a significant social media following to help promote their products and services.  This is especially true where bloggers provide tutorials on fashion cosmetics and beauty products.  Under a consumer-to-consumer model, companies