Social Law Co.

02/09/2024

03/10/2023

As we head toward the end of 2023, it’s time for the Women in Law awards once again.

The prestigious awards ceremony is the benchmark for excellence, recognising the best and brightest women leading the charge in the legal profession across Australia and highlighting their outstanding achievements in, and dedication to, the legal industry.

This year, Tegan is a finalist for the following awards:

* Thought Leader of the Year (for the fourth year in a row) - which recognises a female lawyer in the Australian legal profession who has shown a long-term passion and aptitude for improving the industry.

* Not-For-Profit, Pro Bono or Community Legal Centre Lawyer of the Year - which recognises a female lawyer who has demonstrated a commitment to the community over FY2022–23 via at least one significant not-for-profit, pro bono initiative or community legal centre.

Winners will be announced at a black-tie gala at the Crown, Melbourne, on Thursday, 23 November 2023.

19/04/2023

The Australian Influencer Marketing Council (AiMCO) has updated its leadership team for 2023 after the results of its member election.The industry body has named Social Law Co founder Tegan Boorman as its chair, while Hello Social managing director Sam Kelly joins as a new deputy chair alongside the...

20/01/2023

My live interview with ABC News this morning.

06/10/2022

Whilst many brands highly respect the integrity of self-regulation in the influencer marketing industry, and put significant measures in place to ensure compliance with the relevant laws and codes, there will always be those who ignore the rules.

Australia's lucrative influencer industry has been shrugging limited powers of Ad Standards for the last couple of years. Now a regulator with teeth is stepping in, launching "internet sweeps" in a bid to flush out misleading influencer posts that don’t disclose advertising. Under Australian Consu...

04/10/2022

At least 100 businesses are expected to be reviewed in the initial sweep.

The ACCC Deputy Chair said in a media release today that the ACCC are “looking to identify businesses, review platforms or sectors where there is a pattern of misleading online reviews and testimonials that have the potential to cause significant consumer or small business harm. Both positive and negative reviews and testimonials – including those that are incentivised – can be false or misleading, particularly if they are presented as impartial but are not.”

Significant penalties apply in relation to false or misleading representations about goods or services.

If you are yet to receive advice in relation to using reviews and influencer marketing campaigns to promote your goods and services, or you have any concerns, please contact us.

All marketers, agencies, talent managers and influencers should be aware and across these latest steps by the ACCC and understand their relevant obligations.

04/10/2022

Tegan is excited to be named as a finalist again this year in the Lawyers Weekly Women in Law Awards in the category of Thought Leader of the Year.​​​​​​​​
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This is the third year in a row that Tegan has been named as a finalist in this category of the awards for her work in the social media and influencer marketing legal space, and last year she was honoured to have won the award (and was named as a top 10 finalist in the Excellence Award, which recognises the highest scoring winners across all award categories). ​​​​​​​​
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This particular award recognises a female lawyer within the Australian legal profession who has shown a long-term passion and aptitude for improving the industry, and is able to clearly articulate the desired direction of the industry and draw upon best practice from other relevant industries and markets to champion growth and development of the sector.​​​​​​​​
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This year the awards ceremony will be held at the Grand Hyatt in Melbourne on 24 November 2022. ​​​​​​​​
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29/09/2022

Tegan is thrilled to be hosting a panel discussion on INDUSTRY AND LEGAL PERSPECTIVES: Practical Considerations Involved in Digital Marketing Campaigns at the Legalwise Seminars Advertising and Marketing Law Conference in Sydney next month. The panellists will be talking a lot about our favourite topic - influencer marketing.​​​​​​​​
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If you're interested in listening in to our panel discussion, you can purchase tickets to the event (in person, live online or on demand) via this link - https://legalwiseseminars.com.au/course/?eventtemplate=2516-advertising-and-marketing-law-conference&event=9574.​​​​​​​​
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29/09/2022

Ad Standards has recently published case reports in relation to a number of complaints received about various influencer posts from an event held by a brand. Due to the wording in the captions, and the hashtags used by the influencers, most of the complaints were dismissed after the Community Panel found that the posts were clearly distinguishable as ads, however one was upheld. ​​​​​​​​
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The Community Panel considered that it was likely that the influencers had been invited to the launch event on the particular date in question, as the event only appeared to be open to the public to buy tickets following that date. ​​​​​​​​
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The Community Panel considered that regardless of whether the Influencers were requested to create and post content at or after the event, in the Community Panel's opinion, it was "reasonable to assume that the motivation for an advertiser to provide anything for free to an influencer is that they will post about it or otherwise draw the attention of their followers to the brand".​​​​​​​​
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In relation to the upheld case, the influencer removed the post and the brand indicated an intention to request an independent review of the Community Panel’s determination.​​​​​​​​
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It is however a reminder that if influencers have received something from the brand (including a free ticket to an event), their content should be clearly distinguishable as an ad when posting content which might draw the attention of their followers to the brand.​​​​​​​​
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Brands should consider providing influencers invited to activations, free of charge, with clear guidance on how they are expected to disclose the sponsored nature of the content if they post about the event or any of the products they receive at the event. ​​​​​​​​
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For more information about disclosure obligations, please feel free to get in touch.​​​​​​​​
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29/09/2022

Once the Ad Standards Community Panel has upheld a complaint, they will usually liaise with the advertiser to have the non-compliant ad either modified or removed. ​​​​​​​​
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In the case of influencer marketing, the non-compliant ad is usually a post on the account of the influencer, and the advertiser cannot then simply amend the post themselves, but must then liaise with the influencer to have the post modified or removed. This might involve for example, the influencer adding the paid partnership label to the post. This is just one example of where your influencer agreement comes in handy. ​​​​​​​​
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Most of the time, ads get modified once an advertiser is made aware of a complaint, or at least when the complaint is upheld. Sometimes they have already been removed (such as an expired story on Instagram for example) by the time an advertiser is made aware of a complaint.​​​​​​​​
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There are however times (such as a complaint which was upheld a few months ago) where an influencer fails to modify the post after the complaint has been upheld. In this situation, a few things may subsequently occur. ​​​​​​​​
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Ad Standards may liaise with the platform to have the ad removed, or may even decide to refer the matter to the ACCC to consider whether it breaches the Australian Consumer Law (ACL). Both of these things may result in significant consequences, such as loss of the influencer's account for a breach of the branded content policies, or action by the regulator for a breach of the ACL. ​​​​​​​​
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It's worth noting that influencers who don't disclose commercial relationships is a compliance and enforcement priority for the ACCC for 2022/2023. There's arguably never been a riskier time to fail to disclose a sponsored post than right now, especially for an influencer with a large following. ​​​​​​​​
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For advice about disclosure obligations, or influencer agreements to minimise your risk, get in touch.

29/09/2022

Ad Standards recently upheld a complaint about an Influencer's post featuring gifted products on the basis that the Panel considered that it was unclear whether the products were gifted from a friend, the influencer's partner or the brand. This was due to the wording used in the story set about the product, including that the product was a way to have her partner with her when they spend time apart, and that the gift was thoughtful and lovely.​​​​​​​​
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In reaching its determination, the Panel also took into account the large amount of text and branding in the story image, the fact that the story only lasted a few seconds and that the included *gift would not be immediately noticeable.​​​​​​​​
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It's a reminder to ensure that you are making it clear, obvious and upfront in social media posts when featuring products gifted to influencers, that you have received the product or the service free of charge from the brand.​
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To meet the Branded Content Policies on Instagram, you are required to use the paid partnership label whenever posting branded content (which includes when content is posted featuring a product or service gifted for free).​​​​​​​​
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Simply including , or tagging the brand in the post alone, without any other form of disclosure, when posting about gifted products or services, is going to put you in breach of the Instagram Branded Content Policies (which may result in a loss of your account), result in a failure to comply with the AANA Code of Ethics in relation to distinguishable advertising, and may be found to be a failure to meet your obligations under the Australian Consumer Law. ​​​​​​​​
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If you have questions about how to properly disclose sponsored posts on social media, please get in touch for advice.​​​​​​​​
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29/09/2022

A complaint to ABAC was recently upheld in relation to a Reel posted on the Better Beer Instagram account. ​​​​​​​​
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The Reel featured Matt Ford and Jack Steele (better known as The Inspired Unemployed), drinking what one can only assume is beer in a bar, and utilised the wave filter in the Reel, which was a viral trend on social media mid this year. The Reel was uploaded with the caption "It's Friday arvo... let's get wobbly..."​​​​​​​​
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The complainant objected to the Reel on the basis that they believed it encouraged people to drink to get "wobbly" or "legless" and used influencers to encourage drinking to the point of intoxication.​​​​​​​​
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ABAC considered that "the effect of the filter will be a factor in how a reasonable person will understand and interact with the content".​​​​​​​​
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ABAC determined that the use of the filter, together with the caption, would likely be understood as "either encouraging excessive consumption or treating the effects of excessive consumption as amusing".​​​​​​​​
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As the ABAC Code provides that a marketing communication must not show (visibly, audibly or by direct implication) or encourage the excessive or rapid consumption of an alcohol beverage, misuse or abuse of alcohol or consumption inconsistent with the Australian Alcohol Guidelines, ABAC upheld the complaint.​​​​​​​​
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It's a timely reminder that proper consideration should be given to the legal requirements for your ad based on your industry, including whether certain trending creative elements should be used.

For legal advice on your campaigns, get in touch.