July 19th will henceforth be known as #DiorSaddlebagDay, the world re-launch of the French fashion house’s iconic equestrian-inspired purse. That morning, 100 hand-picked fashion influencers from around the globe drummed up eyeballs on the newly-reissued bag, which debuted at Galliano’s first runway show in 1999, and now retails for between $2,350 to $8,500. The feeds of Instagram users the world over were flooded with images of the bag, and in turn, Diet Prada came knocking, citing “sketchy” influencer marketing practices. The truth, however, is a more complicated. As per the Federal Trade Commission’s guidelines, if there’s a “material connection” between an endorser and an advertiser (read: #swag), it should be clearly and conspicuously disclosed. The use of multiple tags, hashtags, or links at the bottom of a long post isn’t “sufficiently clear,” since “many consumers will not understand a disclosure like “#sp,” “Thanks [Brand],” or “#partner” in an Instagram post to mean that the post is sponsored.”
In addition to influencers who didn’t disclose the gift at allhe concern was that some of the influencers involved used captions couched in language that didn’t make it super obvious that a #sponcon approach was at play: “It’s back… the iconic #DiorSaddle and I’m so incredibly proud to be part of its return… @dior this one you chose for me is beyond PERFECT! Merci x,” wrote Elle Ferguson, the Australian blogger. German blogger Xenia Adonts, who posted a beachy image with the bag, captioned her photo in English, then disclosed the gift’s status with the word German word for ad, “anzeige,” sans hashtag. Others, like the ones below, were explicit, with either use of hashtag #ad, #suppliedbydior. Or, in the case of the ever-candid Leandra Medine Cohen of Manrepeller, “Paging Carrie Bradshaw! Paging! Dr! Bradshaw! The #DiorSaddle bag is backadee backado. This one was a gift from them, FYI.” #DiorDay, as we’re now referring to it, was a doozy. But who would possibly have the time to stalk all 100 lucky influencers using a combinations of hashtags and @dior mentions, translate their captions, then log the results using our software? Hiiiiiiii. Read on for the best examples of true #influence from the campaign.
#diorsaddle #dior #suppliedbydior
