VMT: Food law event – tips and tricks for influencer marketing

On June 20th 2017, the VMT food law event took place in the flashy Miele Experience Center in Vianen. The event is much visited by all stakeholders from the food industry. During the plenary morning program, Ebba Hoogenraad provided tips and tricks on the use of influencers in food marketing. The legal side of this can be truly complex and confusing. To name a few examples: how can advertisers make sure an influencer does not direct his communication which advertises their products to a target group below 13 years old (or 7 years old for ‘healthy’ foods)? Who is responsible for the influencer, who highly recommends the product sampled by an advertiser, but makes prohibited health claims by doing so? And then there’s vloggers, who review and advertise products on their own initiative. Do advertisers have to take action even if there’s no relationship between them and the influencer? There might be a risk that children want to follow the example of their idol. During the break and after the end of the event considerable discussions took place. Words people used to describe Ebba’s presentation : interesting, lively and clear.

Influencer marketing: we expect there is a lot more to come.

Ebba Hoogenraad