The retailer was charged with deceiving customers through a paid article and Instagram post

Lord & Taylor has settled with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over charges that it deceived customers by paying for native advertisements.

The FTC said that the retailer paid 50 fashion influencers to post pictures of themselves wearing a dress from the company’s Design Lab clothing collection, but that they had not disclosed that they gave the posters the dress and money to post it.

They retailer was also charged with deceiving customers for paying for an article in the magazine Nylon and an accompanying Instagram post without disclosing that both were paid ads.

“Lord & Taylor needs to be straight with consumers in its online marketing campaigns,” said Jessica Rich, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Consumers have the right to know when they’re looking at paid advertising.

The settlement prohibits the retailer from misrepresenting that paid advertising is from an independent or objective source.

Full details are available here. 

JCK