Advertising Law Question

Location: GA, FL

A lot of small brands advertise their products on TikTok using “user generated content.”

It’s very common in mobile app marketing. I’m currently marketing an app.

Basically, they give creators free access to the app and pay the creators to promote and endorse the app.

Sometimes, the creator will create an account, using a picture of themselves as the profile picture. The account isn’t really branded. Then, they post over and over promoting the app, but pretending to be just a regular, disinterested person posting on TikTok about the app.

They will also make up stories about how they heard about the app to make it seem more organic and lend credibility to their endorsement. For instance, “My friend just told me about this app that…” or “My mom is in [x profession] and told me about this app to save money.”

Sometimes the creators will use multiple hooks like this, so it’s obvious it’s untrue. Really, they found out about the app because the brand/marketing agency gave them the job, and the script told them to say they found out about the app from a friend, etc.

It seems like this strategy violates of FTC/advertising laws because:

1. They aren’t disclosing the material connection between the creators and the brand.

2. Some details of the endorsements that are likely to influence purchasing decisions are fabricated.

The reason I’m asking about this is because I have a mobile app, and I paid a marketing company to run an organic TikTok campaign for me. Being new to the space, I didn’t expect them to do anything illegal.

When I’ve pushed back, they told me:

* “It’s the same as when an athlete endorses a product.”

* “This is just what organic marketing is. People don’t want to feel like they’re being sold to.”

Finally, they admitted some FTC guidelines were violated, but they minimized the issue, saying, “There’s a law in Georgia saying you can’t curse in front of a corpse.” Basically, they’re saying the laws I brought up don’t matter. I felt gaslit.

I know the FTC isn’t going after every small case, but I still care about the law, and I don’t think the risk to my company is zero.

Are they right that this stuff doesn’t matter legally?