The Credibility of influencer marketing and mandatory labelling.The legal situation in Germany and its influence on acceptance and consumer behaviour

Master's Thesis from the year 2019 in the subject Communications - Public Relations, Advertising, Marketing, Social Media, grade: 1.0, Buckinghamshire New University, course: Leadership & Management majoring Marketing Communications, language: English, abstract: Following the wave of warning letters and court proceedings regarding surreptitious advertising, the increasing popularity of influencer marketing also reveals the legal dimension of this topic. The lack of legal certainty in this area results from trade association activities, such as the Association for Social Competition which systematically sue many influencers and collaborating companies for disguising the promotional nature of paid contributions on social platforms such as Instagram.

Against this background, this dissertation examines in further detail the controversial scope of labelling and disclosure obligations for influencers in social media such as Instagram and considers the associated issue of "credibility of influencer-marketing" and potential effects on consumer-behaviour. This assessment is further supported by empirical data collected which is carried out with qualitative and quantitative research methods in order to establish (tentative) hypotheses based on research phenomena and consumer-behaviour pattern.

In summary, mandatory labelling and disclosure requirements do not seem to "ruin" the credibility of influencer-marketing and do not take a major influence on consumer acceptance and -behaviour. Acceptance and market behaviour rather seem to be driven by other factors, including the character of the products and the company involved and the personal fit with the profile of the respective influencers. The research-project is limited to the consideration of influencer-marketing and compliance with legal obligations in Germany.