The rules surrounding #sponcon are different depending on which country you’re in. Even in places like the US where legislation is stricter, bloggers and social media influencers have become experts at finding loopholes around the rules. These tricks allow them and the brands they’re repping to slide into your life in a way that seems authentic, but usually isn’t. To help you understand this stealthy marketing style, here are six red flags for undeclared sponsored content: 

1. Cluster-bombing

Sometimes companies will send out promotional products to several influencers at once, hoping for a mention. Since they’re technically not being paid in this exchange, many influencers will simply share pics of themselves wearing or using the products, sans the usual #ad or #sponsored tags. So, if a few influencers you follow are suddenly repping the same sneakers, loving the same mushroom coffee, or rubbing the same crystals on their faces, chances are they’re only doing so because they got freebies.

2. Something doesn’t add up

If an influencer swears by a product they’re using, it’s possible that they genuinely love it. However, if you check out reviews of the product on sites like Amazon, Choice, ProductReview, or TrustPilot, and you’re seeing vastly different reactions from the general public, then you’re quite likely looking at sponsored content.

3. Thanks, partner

If one of your favorite celebrities or influencers posts a picture of themselves enjoying a gift from a designer, a meal at a restaurant, or an experience somewhere with a #thankyou to the brand, this often means that they were given the product or service for free in exchange for social media promotion. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), simply saying “thank you” isn’t enough because this doesn’t make it clear to the audience that there’s a material relationship between the influencer and the brand. The same goes for the #partner tag.

4. Brand tags

This is a tricky one because many bloggers and influencers link and tag non-sponsor brands they love simply so people know where to find them. However, if you notice that an influencer you follow doesn’t always tag the brands they wear or use, it’s quite likely that they’re only applying these tags when they’re getting paid or getting freebies. Another red flag is if they’re usually responsive but ignore comments asking where they got something from in pictures that don’t have brand tags. 

5. Discount codes

Many influencers still try to push the concept that they loved a product so much they did their darndest to set up a special discount code just for their loyal fans. The truth is, this is standard practice in influencer marketing. If someone has a personalized discount code, you can guarantee they’re not the only one and they are being sponsored in some way by that company.

6. “I’m not an affiliate”

The words “I’m not an affiliate” make it sound like the blogger or influencer is not sponsored at all by the brand they’re promoting while technically only saying that they’re not connected via affiliate marketing. There are many other ways to be rewarded by a company for sponsored content, but influencers rely on the fact that their audience doesn’t understand the backend of the system. If someone is careful to say “I’m not an affiliate,” then they may be hiding the fact that they’re sponsored in some other way.

Though these red flags don’t necessarily mean the content you’re looking at is undeclared “sponcon,” they should set off warning bells, especially if you’re seeing them grouped t