Far from being a flash-in-the-pan trend, influencer marketing only continues to grow– it’s “expected to rise 16% to about $8.14 billion in 2024 compared to last year and nearly the same amount next year, according to eMarketer.”

Media consumption habits have shifted over the past few years, especially since the pandemic. Younger generations in particular spend more time on smaller screens than watching traditional media and its accompanying advertising. To not miss out on capturing the attention of younger demographics, The Information reports that big advertisers “are turning more heavily to influencers to help them reach consumers who are glued to newer forms of entertainment, like social media, streaming, and gaming.” 

Tens of billions traditionally spent on television advertising could potentially be redirected to other forms of advertising, including influencer partnerships. Even brands you might not expect are getting into the influencer game; John Deere is working with a creator- deemed their “Chief Tractor Officer''- to run its short-form video strategy. 

Brands need to be aware of the risks, however, before cashing in on this advertising opportunity. 

Factors That Make Influencer Collaborations Risky

As with any form of advertising, influencer marketing comes with its own set of risks. Brands that don’t do their due diligence can learn the hard way that having a lot of followers doesn’t always equal a high engagement rate that leads to conversions on their end. 

But beyond ensuring that an influencer has the experience necessary to run a solid brand partnership campaign, brands also need to consider the lesser-known risks– like liability. 

What is influencer liability?

Influencers are often out in the world filming content for their audience and the mishaps get chronicled right alongside their positive viral moments. Unfortunately for brands, if these mishaps happen while they’re filming content for a brand, that brand could potentially be held liable. 

That includes everything from injuries incurred in the course of filming content to charges brought against a creator in the course of a giveaway. Sound far-fetched? Here are just a few examples. 

Case Studies: Real-World Examples of Influencer-Brand Mishaps

Kai Cenat is an influencer with roughly 15M followers across various social media platforms- X, Twitter, Youtube, Twitch- and broke the latter’s record for subscribers when passed 300,000 in March of this year. 

On August 5, 2023, he held a PS5 giveaway with another influencer that was live-streamed on Twitch. But what started fun quickly spiraled out of control with the large crowd growing violent. In the end, 65 arrests were made, several injuries were reported, and he was charged with inciting a riot. The charges were ultimately dropped, but that’s obviously not the kind of incident you want your brand to be liable for! 

In other cases, influencers have become injured in the course of doing branded promotions: 

• An Instagram influencer fell off a 30-foot bridge while trying to get the perfect selfie for a sponsorship post. She sustained serious injuries.

• Several influencers have been injured doing excessive sponsored posts featuring brands of diuretic detox tea, resulting in hospitalization for dehydration.

• A beauty vlogger suffered burns during a sponsored hair tutorial using a curling wand she was paid to promote.

• A lifestyle influencer broke her foot rehearsing for a promotional dance video for a sponsor.

While it’s impossible to guarantee nothing ever goes wrong in the pursuit of creating potentially viral content, the reminder that things can go seriously wrong is a good one for brands to ensure they have the right protections in place for both them and the influencers they are working with. 

How to get the right protections in place 

There’s no reward without some level of risk and knowing the risks doesn’t mean it’s not worth working with influencers at all. Brands just need to ensure they have the right protections in place for themselves and the creators they’re working with. 

As The Information puts it, quoting Lesley Klein, senior vice president of strategy and brand marketing at Priceline, “Creators are creating ‘connection’ in a way that maybe our advertising can’t…we think of it as a critical part of our overall [advertising] mix.’” Brands should also think of creators as the freelancers they are and require the same insurance and indemnification they would with any other independent contractor. 

Uninsured freelancers injured on the job result in upstream liability to the brand, invite regulatory oversight, and ultimately result in damage to the client relationship. The best way to prevent this is to create a process for vendor compliance that meets your organization’s objectives and available budgets. Make it as seamless as possible to ensure compliance per gig. 

We can help!

1099Policy has supported influencer campaigns of Heineken, Purina, and Visa to name a few. We provide the coverage required of you for vendors per gig. As part of the onboarding workflow, we can provide your freelancers with the coverage required of them if they don’t already have it.

The benefits to you include faster speed-to-market, tapping into a growing talent pool, and doing it all with meaningful cost savings– while staying compliant. 

Reach out to get started.