Ethical Dilemmas of Influencer Marketing: What Health Communicators Need to Know

Background: In recent years, the use of online influencers as part of the health marketing mix has increased substantially. While influencer marketing can be an effective strategy for disseminating health messages swiftly and broadly, there are ethical concerns associated with the use of influencers. Understanding and addressing these ethical issues is critical to the successful use of influencers as a health communication strategy.

Program background: Westat has been working at the forefront of influencer engagement to support health promotion programs for nearly a decade. During this time, we have observed changes in influencer marketing industry, many of which present substantial ethical challenges to health communicators. This presentation will review a number of critical issues the industry is facing and present strategies for addressing those challenges. For example, the decision about whether to pay influencers to write about a health topic is a critical issue that many health marketers are facing. Understanding whether or not an influencer should be paid – and if and when payment may be a worthwhile investment – is key to making the right decision for your program or campaign. Related to the issue of payment is the use of disclosure language in order to ensure messages and marketing strategies are transparent and comply with FTC guidelines. However, opportunities to enforce disclosure language can be limited, so health communicators need strategies to ensure its inclusion in influencer posts. Finally, some influencers are purchasing “fake followers” to increase their value to marketers. Understanding how to vet influencers to ensure that they are high quality and a fit for your program is vital to ensuring the credibility of your health messages. Examples from real-life case studies will be shared.

Evaluation Methods and Results: Despite the ethical issues that health communicators can face when working with online influencers, Westat has successfully employed risk mitigation strategies to ensure the successful dissemination of health messages. For example, our approach to vetting helps to remove “risky” influencers from consideration prior to engagement. In addition, our messaging documents and the relationships we build with credible influencers ensures that required disclosure language is included in influencers’ posts. Other approaches that Westat uses to reduce risk and successfully engage influencers will be also be shared.

Conclusions: Online influencer engagement poses several ethical issues – but these challenges do not preclude the use of online influencers in health promotion programs. Understanding and proactively addressing these ethical concerns will minimize risk and help ensure this outreach strategy is successful.

Implications for research and/or practice: Having a clear understanding of the ethical issues that marketers will face when working with online influencers – especially for health promotion programs – is critical to ensuring successful dissemination of health messages. The strategies described in this presentation will help program planners to address these ethical issues, ensure a positive collaboration, and help achieve the desired health outcomes.