Ethics in the Age of Influencer Marketing: Balancing Profit and Integrity

Looking back at the last few decades, it’s hard to believe that the internet has only become mainstream around the turn of the century. While the foundation of today’s digital infrastructure was laid in the 1990s – eCommerce, online search, and social media were born at this time – it came to fruition in the naughties. And it changed everything, from the way we consume the daily news to the way we do our daily shopping. 

But arguably the biggest impact on our lives was made by two things introduced in the early days of the information age: streaming and social media. These two – with groundbreaking services like YouTube and Facebook – had a massive impact not only on our behaviour as consumers but also on the way brands promote their products and services: through “influencers”. 

The Rise of Influencer Marketing

The road to influencers becoming the bridge between brands and consumers was paved with many notable personalities. Justin Hall, one of the first bloggers (before it was cool) inspired many others to start sharing their lives online, laying the groundwork for personal branding and influencer culture. Tila Tequila was the first MySpace celebrity, turning her social media fame into mainstream success. Perez Hilton rose to fame through his insider information and celebrity gossip. Makeup artist Jeffree Star turned his internet fame into a business, launching his own cosmetics brand. Lonelygirl15, Ryan Higa, and Smosh were the first YouTube stars, building massive audiences and shaping trends.

These internet personalities started to shift from building their personal brand to promoting products and services in the mid-2000s. The first notable collaboration between a brand and an internet personality came in 2010 when Michelle Phan started promoting Lancôme’s products on her channel. Since then, influencer marketing has become a key strategy for brands.

What Is Influencer Marketing?

In a nutshell, influencer marketing is the practice of collaboration with individuals who have dedicated and engaged following on digital networks. These individuals, known as “influencers”, leverage their credibility, expertise, or personal connection with their followers to promote a brand, product, or service.

Depending on their following, influencers fall into distinct categories, from micro-influencers with a few thousand followers, to mega-influencers or celebrities with millions of them. 

The Power of Social Media

Here’s how influencer marketing works:

1. A brand identifies an internet personality whose audience is in line with their target market

2. They promote their products and services via sponsored posts, product reviews, giveaways or affiliate marketing directly to the influencer’s followers

And it works. Influencers can be powerful advocates for brands, and shape trends, opinions, or even societal norms. Plus, they humanize marketing, creating relatable, real-world content that resonates with the target audience way more than traditional advertising can. Finally, influencer marketing is effective: many brands using it earn an ROI of 400-600%, or up to $6 on every dollar spent.

Ethical Challenges in Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is very effective in bridging the gap between consumers and brands. On the other hand, it comes with significant ethical concerns. 

Transparency

Although most countries and platforms have clear rules about disclosing paid partnerships, many influencers fail to label them correctly. Whether it’s deliberate or not, the audience may end up consuming an advertisement without even knowing it. 

A lack of transparency is bad enough when it comes to products and services but it truly becomes an issue with politics. 

Authenticity vs. Profit

Influencers are trusted by their audiences – and some of them abuse this trust by endorsing or promoting products and services (or candidates) that they don’t personally use. The reason, as you might expect, is money. Sometimes, they end up promoting low-quality or even harmful products. 

This doesn’t only damage the trust of the audiences but it can also damage their health.

Manipulation of Audiences

This is a multi-layered matter with many branches to explore.

First, there’s the use and exploitation of emotional triggers to drive purchases. We’re talking about FOMO (fear of missing out) or pounding on the followers’ insecurities. These manipulative tactics are especially effective with vulnerable groups, especially young audiences. 

Then, there are “bounties”. Some brands pay influencers not to promote their own products or services but to denigrate and sabotage their competitors. This involves spreading negative – often misleading or untrue – information about a competing brand to damage its reputation, reduce trust, and undermine its market position.

Ethical Gray Areas

Let’s not forget about the practice of promoting products that are potentially dangerous or harmful. Some influencers prioritize profit over the well-being of their followers, promoting products like gambling or unregulated supplements. This can lead to health risks, addiction, and almost certain financial loss.

Fake Followers and Engagement

On the other hand, what about unethical “influencers”? Those who inflate their follower counts artificially and boost their metrics using bots? They deceive brands and reduce the overall credibility of influencer marketing. Plus, when they do participate in campaigns, they waste the marketers’ budgets on little to no results. 

The Role of Influencers and Brands in Promoting Ethics

It’s in the public’s interest that all influencer marketing campaigns be ethical. This is the responsibility of both the brands promoting their products and services and the influencers themselves.

Influencers as Gatekeepers

Influencers have significant power over their followers’ opinions – and purchasing decisions. And, as they say, with great power comes great responsibility. They are the gatekeepers, they have to protect their followers’ well-being. This should be their priority, not their own financial gain, especially not in the short term. 

This involves being transparent about sponsorships and endorsements and by no means manipulating their followers by accepting “bounties”. 

Brands’ Responsibility

But the brands have their share of responsibility. First, there’s the obvious: they should never resort to false advertising and sell products that can harm their buyers’ health and finances. But at the same time, they shouldn’t pressure influencers into creating misleading content or attacking their competitors.

But brands – or the agencies representing them – have one more responsibility toward themselves: carefully vet the influencers they work with. They must make sure the people they work with are not artificially inflating their following, thus wasting their time and money. 

Brands must also carefully select the influencers they work with based on their values. Partnering with a controversial figure can harm the brand’s reputation, sometimes irreparably. 

Laws and Regulations

Most countries have some form of regulations on advertising – but many of them are stuck in the past. They apply to TV, radio, and print but are oblivious to the internet. And even those that consider online advertising are behind the times, not covering influencer marketing. Only a handful of countries have specific regulations for influencer marketing – France, Spain, Italy, the US, and a few others. 

This means that companies, micro-influencers and even celebrities can do what they want. 

Some of the major platforms also have rules in place to regulate influencer behaviour. But even when the public reports the rule-breakers, the sheer volume of content makes it near impossible for the moderators and decision-makers to act on them. 

How Dyson Reached Out to Pet Parents

Here’s an example of a well-executed, ethical influencer marketing campaign: Dyson’s Pet Cleanup. A few years ago, cleaning appliance brand Dyson introduced a new product line designed to handle pet hair and related messes. To promote the new product, the company decided to reach out to pet owners directly through influencer marketing.

Dyson worked with pet influencers who have regularly covered pet hair challenges. They were given creative freedom to showcase the products, making sure the message was authentic and credible. In most cases, the content featured those responsible for the mess – the pets themselves.

The result was over 12 million views on Instagram Reels, an engagement rate of 10%, and a high level of audience interest. Plus, it increased the brand’s visibility in all the right ways.

How Monarch Stirred Controversy

Unethical behaviour often remains in the shadows – unless someone speaks up. This was the case of Stephen Findeisen, better known as Coffeezilla, a prominent YouTuber and crypto journalist who investigates and discusses online scams, especially crypto-related schemes, on his channel. 

Coffeezilla revealed that “Monarch”, the owner of a prominent Counter-Strike gambling platform, tried to convince him with a bounty of $20k to write about the alleged misconduct of a competitor. Being an ethical influencer, Coffeezilla declined the offer and decided to investigate the instigator. What he found was concerning: a pattern of harassment, intimidation, and similar tactics aimed at the competitors, as well as the influencers associated with them. It culminated in an unfortunate incident at the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 that resulted in a quarter-final match being interrupted, the trophy being broken, and law enforcement – and lawyers – being involved. While Monarch issued an apology through CSGOEmpire, the damage was already done. 

How Romania’s Election Got Cancelled

Influencer marketing is used successfully in political campaigns, too. Sometimes, in turn, it’s used with no transparency. This was (most likely) the case in Romania’s elections in November 2024. One of the candidates was a sleeper – he barely ever showed up in the polls, and nobody expected him to even have a chance to make it to round two. To everyone’s surprise, though, he beat every other candidate by a mile.

The candidate had no traditional advertising activity and reported zero campaign spending. This prompted the authorities to look deeper into his dealings. What they uncovered was very concerning: apparently, his success in November’s election was the result of clever influencer marketing funded by a “foreign state actor”. In short, election interference – and this prompted the country’s Supreme Court to cancel the presidential election altogether. 

Navigating The Ethical Path

Influencer marketing is changing the game as we speak. It is already transforming the way marketers connect with audiences and the way brands connect with consumers. It offers never-before-seen levels of authenticity and engagement. But it’s a double-edged sword.

It can be a force for good if used correctly – but it can also be misused and abused. In the wrong hands, it can tarnish the good name of brands and even swing elections. This is why influencers need to be transparent, authentic, and most importantly, accountable. 

The industry can continue to thrive only if it remains ethical, regulated, and trusted. Its long-term success depends on its ability to maintain the thing that makes it powerful: the real connection between influencers and their audiences. 

The question is not whether influencer marketing will continue to grow – it’s whether it will do it responsibly.