Watchdog Claimed That Kardashian Sisters Receive Illegal Income from Instagram Posts

The Kardashian-Jenner family is reportedly worth $2 billion, they demand more than six figures for each post and story on Instagram and Facebook. However, while reviewing the Instagram accounts of Kim Kardashian West, Khloe Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, and Kendall Jenner in 2016, Truth in Advertising Inc. asserted that they had discovered more than 100 posts that "do not clearly or conspicuously disclose their relationships with the companies being promoted in the posts." Page Six reported then, that the watchdog company sent a legal notice to momager Kris Jenner and her lawyer saying, “We have found that members of the Kardashian/Jenner family are engaged in deceptive marketing campaigns.”

QZ had reported, that the letter from Truth in Advertising was also addressed to the 27 businesses that the organization believes paid the Kardashians and Jenners for their social media posts, including well-known names like Calvin Klein, Estée Lauder, Puma, and Revlon's Sinful Colors. As reported by Fox61, the Madison-based company had made a report titled "Exposure without Disclosure: Cashing In With the Kardashians," in which it was stated that the women were allegedly breaking FTC regulations by failing to identify them as advertising. Bonnie Patten, executive director of Truth in Advertising had shared then, "I don't think people realize that what they've been doing is wrong. It's very hard to distinguish when they post an ad and when it's just a photograph of an outfit they may like," said Patten. 

“Consumers have the right to know when they’re looking at paid advertising,” Jessica Rich, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection had said back then. "It's okay to make a living off of Instagram posts," Patten had said. "What it's not okay to do is deceive the consumer." The commercials in question featured numerous brands. "Calvin Klein, Puma, Sugar Bear Hair, Fit Tea, Waist Trainers, high-end jewelry, makeup lines, Estee Lauder... the list goes on and on," said Patten. Truth in Advertising had written to the Kardashian-Jenner family and had also communicated with their attorney, who, according to Patten, had been extremely responsive. After which the famous family complied with the legal notice and changed or deleted several misleading ad posts. 

Patten had suggested that commercial posts should begin with "#ad" to make it evident when they are advertisements. She claimed that the issue affects a lot more people than just the Kardashian-Jenner family and is prevalent across all social media sites with bloggers and celebrities. "This will not be our first investigation," Patten had said. “They really are similar to larger companies with their following and marketing influence,” said Patten. ”It’s time for the FTC to really start looking at some of these very large powerful social media influencers.” Truth in Advertising has stated that it will keep pursuing additional unlawful advertisements. “We’ve been interested in deceptive endorsements for decades and this is a new way in which they are appearing,” an FTC official had told Bloomberg. “We believe consumers put stock in endorsements and we want to make sure they are not being deceived.”