Celebrities and influencers were inherent promoters of nascent asset class non-fungible tokens. In many instances, sales of NFTs, by and large, remain under celebrity influence, either directly or indirectly. However, such acts turned out to be shilling of NFTs that makes buyers purchase these digital assets.
Recently Truth in Advertising (TINA.org), a prominent consumer monitoring group, summoned 19 celebrities for their alleged involvement in the promotion of non-fungible tokens. The organization is seeking information on celebrities’ connections with the NFT projects.
According to a note on Truth in Advertising’s website, they ran investigations on celebrities who were involved in the promotion of non-fungible tokens. They have promoted NFTs heavily through their social media accounts which the watchdog group found to be full of fraud and scam advertisements.
TINA.org is a non-profit organization that works towards consumer protection and its support. They have noted in a blog post that the Federal Trade Commission had ruled out several regulations regarding the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising and the need for celebrities in it.
The organization cited the official website of FTC that mentioned obligations where influencers and celebrities need to reveal if they hold any connections to the projects and brands they are involved in endorsing. Also, their declaration needed to provide clear, precise, and visible information.
The list released by customer advocacy groups is full of well-known celebrities and stars across different fields, from sports to music to Hollywood. The organization asked all the celebrities to disclose their relations with the NFT projects that they promoted earlier. TINA.org sent the celebrities a letter asking them for their involvement and also added that many times people could not provide any significant connection with the brand they were endorsing.
However, the consumer advocacy group had not aligned any legal penalty along with their letter. They have only criticized them for their roles and also made them aware of the possible threats of shelling NFTs on the general public.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/08/16/truth-in-advertising-criticizing-celebrities-involvement-in-nfts-promotions/