When A ​"Sponsored" Disclosure May Not Be Enough

NAD recently reviewed posts promoting Cariuma sneakers that appeared on the Facebook and Instagram accounts of Travel + Leisure, US Weekly, and The Quality Edit. The posts claimed that various celebrities wore the sneakers, encouraged consumers to buy the sneakers before they sold out, and included links to make a purchase or learn more. Each post was labeled as "sponsored."

NAD assessed whether the posts were ads or editorial content and concluded that they fell into the former category. If you want to learn more about how NAD came to that conclusion, you can read the decision. In this post, we're going to focus on the "sponsored" label. Although advertisers have long thought that to be a "safe" option for a disclosure, this decisions demonstrates that's not always the case.