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Introduction
Consumers are increasingly exposed to marketing messages while simultaneously becoming more adept at tuning out these messages (Campbell et al., 2013). In response, marketers are motivated to develop communication strategies that consumers do not easily identify as a persuasive marketing attempt by the brand (Wei et al., 2008). One strategy that is increasingly being used is influencer marketing, which allows brands to communicate to an interested audience through the voice of someone they ostensibly trust (Newman, 2015). Previous research demonstrates that the utilization of influencers, such as celebrities (Djafarova and Rushworth, 2017; Jin and Phua, 2014), brand community members (Kim et al., 2014) and bloggers (Lee and Watkins, 2016) for marketing efforts enhances consumers’ brand attitudes and increases purchasing. The ability to reach a sizeable portion of the target market quickly and cost-effectively makes influencer marketing an increasingly popular promotional tool (Phua et al., 2017).
In 2019, 89 per cent of marketers report that ROI from influencer marketing is similar to, if not better than, other marketing channels and as of 2018, 65 per cent of marketers said they planned to increase their influencer marketing budgets (Mediakix, 2019). Currently, influencer marketing growth is estimated to be $6.5bn, with earned media value up to $18 per dollar invested (Influencer Marketing Hub, 2019). By 2022, the industry is expected to be worth $15bn (Mediakix, 2019). Furthermore, consumers have long held that celebrities are authentic customers who are motivated by a genuine predilection for the product or brand rather than financial gain (Atkin and Block, 1983). However, roughly 50 per cent of social media users are not able to identify when promotional posts are sponsored (Sterling, 2017). This suggests that consumers are likely to be unduly influenced by influencer marketing campaigns they perceive to be genuine, non-commercial content.
Influencer marketing is defined as the practice of leveraging opinion leaders to spread word-of-mouth about brands and their products to target audiences (Thorne, 2008). Interestingly, influencers often fail to disclose their commercial relationships with brands and organizations, with only 11 per cent of influencers complying with Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) or the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA[1]) guidelines (Influencer Marketing Hub, 2019). The recently updated FTC (2019) guidelines indicate it is important for influencers...