How Much Do You Trust the Celebrities and Social Media Stars You Follow?

I recently read an article that I found interesting and something I always find myself questioning. The article I read was titled, "How Much Do You Trust the Celebrities and Social Media Stars You Follow?" It explained how marketers see social media as an important tool in displaying their ads to reach a tricky type of audience, especially when there is a picture of a celebrity saying how great the product really is. The article used the example of the Kardashians posting pictures on social media of themselves with weight loss products they, supposedly, used to prove that these products worked for them, so they will work for you. But the viewers of these Kardashian sisters may have noticed a new addition to these types of posts. At the end of their post about these products there is the hashtag of, "#ad". This is new addition is due to the Federal Trade Commission having a problem with how these paid brand endorsements should be handled so people know these are strictly just ads. Although the Federal Trade Commission mentioned and encouraged these celebrity endorsers to place, "#ad" or "#sponsored", on their posts, there is no set rules or guidelines in place that anyone has to follow.

I have a problem with these celebrities posting their opinion and pictures about a certain product to draw their fans into buying it because I feel they, truly, do not even know how the product works. For example, if you were to ask them specific detailed questions such as, "How would this product work if I am gluten free?" In my opinion, when you are displaying a product to the entire public, you should know the exact details about the product because that is what the workers of the company you are promoting have to do. They work extremely hard to make a living by hard work and determination of encouraging people to buy their products, and answer any questions consumers may have. Sadly, these workers will never, in a lifetime, make the kind of money these celebrities make, obviously. The least the celebrities could do is invest research into the product they are promoting because they charge, on average, "$187,500 for a post on YouTube, $75,000 for a post on Instagram or Snapchat and $30,000 for a post on Twitter", as the article states.

Whatever the product consists of that these celebrities are posting, I do not believe I would be more likely to invest in buying the product. Even if it was, in fact, my favorite celebrity or athlete. When I am scrolling through my news feed on Instagram or Facebook, I usually bypass any sort of celebrity post that is promoting a product because I find this very annoying. I think this annoyance is triggered by how often they perform this act. I feel that the celebrities post a different picture with a product almost every day stating how great it is. These constant promotions get old easily, and a lot of times I actually unfollow them due to this. With that said, I am sure other people feel this same way, which means these celebs may actually be losing a good portion of their fans, instead of gaining their fans interest, by contributing in this ad dilemma!

Don't get me wrong, I do understand why people would totally be influenced by a celebrity promoting a product, and be more likely to buy it because of this celebrity. But promoting something is just another way for these celebs to earn an absurd amount of green dollar bills! The people that have a dedicated following of fans, such as the Kardashians, are blinded by the factor of somehow being like them when they purchase the product they are promoting. We, as consumers, should start looking beyond the surface of these advertisements, and understand why these celebrities are really partaking in promoting products. Some of these stars could care less about the audience they are generating, they just want to continue making the big amount of money by simply posing with a product, while all of us are trying to make a living by working hard and actually trying to earn a college degree!