调查显示仅四分之一美国成年人相信创作者会主动披露品牌商单

Just one in four U.S. adults believe content creators consistently disclose brand ties when promoting a sponsored product.

That’s not a lot of trust for an industry that relies on creators building close bonds with their audiences.

The data comes from a Morning Consult survey conducted for Business Insider; around 2,000 people participated.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, older folks were less inclined to trust creators: 53% of Baby Boomers said creators “rarely or never” clearly disclose paid deals, while just 21% of Gen Z said the same thing.

Morning Consult also asked respondents whether creators should have to disclose paid sponsorships at all. Across all age groups, the majority of people said yes.

But some did say no: 12% of Boomers, 18% of Gen Xers, 22% of Millennials, and 23% of Gen Z’ers.

We find this wild, and if you’ll forgive a second of conjecture, we’re wondering if the striking number of nos among Millennials and Gen Z has to do with people in those generations being raised in a culture of online side hustles and low barriers to content creation. How many of these respondents are creators themselves, or wish they were, or think they could be, if they just started making TikTok Shop promo videos like their friends and coworkers?

To them, it might seem like a drag to make a video hoping to earn a quick buck, only to have to admit “Yeah, I’m selling something,” in an obvious place.

It seems that way to some established creators and brands, too. BI also cited a recent survey from SheSpeaks where 14% of creators admitted they don’t always disclose brand ties, and 18% said that within the past year, a brand had explicitly asked them not to disclose that they had been paid.

If you’re a regular Tubefilter reader, you will of course know that behavior is very against Federal Trade Commission regulations, and could open violative creators and businesses up to hefty fines. There is never an excuse for an individual creator failing to disclose, but a business that makes it standard to push creators not to disclose is even more problematic.

And while disclosures might seem like a drag to these creators and businesses, to most other people, transparency is reassuring.

Emily Steele, CEO of creator marketing platform Hummingbirds, told BI another key aspect here is that creators need to have meaningful and engaging content outside of brand deals for their audiences to be open when they endorse a product.

“There are creators who only post UGC or sponsored content without any cohesion around what they’re posting about and why,” she said. “Why would I, as a follower, trust you when I feel like all you post is a paid brand deal?”

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