I betalt samarbete med... - En analys av den marknadsrättsliga gråzonen vid influencer-marknadsföring

Sammanfattning: Influencer marketing is a result of an increasingly digitalized world. An influencer is a person whose profession involves influencing, primarily through social media. Influencer marketing is a unique and profitable marketing strategy for companies. However, the profession has raised a number of legal questions regarding marketing law. The Marketing Act is extensive and covers the legal problems that can arise with influencer marketing, even though the law was established several years before this type of marketing became relevant. However, it can be difficult to determine whether a post is commercial marketing or merely editorial content, as the law does not apply to editorial content. The Official Report of the Swedish Government "An advertising landscape in change - consumer protection and supervision in a digitalized world" states that problems with digital marketing are not attributable to shortcomings in the legislation. The investigation finds that, among other things, influencer marketing is problematic from a consumer protection perspective. Instead, the investigation suggested dissemination of information to strengthen digital consumer protection. However, the question that remains is how effective this measure is. Currently, there are only two judgments in this area. The first case provides some guidance on how influencer marketing should be presented. The court concluded that it is important that a marketing collaboration is marked as paid, in order for the consumer to perceive that the post is of a commercial nature. The second case concerns the distinction issues regarding commercial and editorial content. In this case, the court found that when assessing what constitutes commercial marketing, special attention should be given to the agreement between the influencer and the company whose product or service is being marketed. The cases are unique and have provided much-needed guidance. In conclusion, influencer marketing is something of a gray area of the law where there yet is no clear answear to how this type of marketing should be handled.