On August 9th, popular Youtuber Bogyeom, who has about 4million subscribers, received the advertising fee but it caused controversy that the video was not composed and marked as if it did not receive the advertising fee. Even if the advertisement was specified, this became a problem because it was hidden by writing down in the “See More” section so that it could not be immediately checked. According to the results of the survey conducted by the Korea Consumer Agency for 582 advertisement posts from the top 60 influencers in Korea form October to November last year, 71.1% of the articles did not disclose the paid advertising even though they received a payment. Even if the fact that it was advertisement was clearly stated, it was a problem by hiding such as writing it in the more section so that it couldn’t be checked immediately.

Like this, unnotified advertising with such a problem refers to an advertisement in the form of introducing a specific product as if it was purchased and used but it is actually paid promotion. Unnotified advertisements are mainly made by influencers such as famous SNS account holders, Internet broadcasters, and power bloggers. According to the digital news report 2020 published by the UK’s Reuters Institute of Journalism, 45% of Koreans access news through YouTube and the online sector including these media accounted for 83 percent of the total route. In other words, Korean SNS users are substantially influenced by online influencers. Seo Yoo-Han (20, Dept. of Construction Convergence Studies) said, “I visited the Galbi restaurant after watching the review video of a Youtuber that I enjoyed and had high reliability. However, when I visited the waiting line was long but the taste was not special so I was puzzled. In a recent article, I saw that the Youtuber made an unnotified advertisement and I felt anger that I was fooled by it and by the Youtuber who tricked the viewers.” Analyze the cause of this controversial unnotified advertisement.

The first is that advertisers also prefer unnotified advertisements because consumers are reluctant to believe advertisements. In the case of PPL (product placement), which is currently in dramas, movies, and entertainment programs, viewers' reluctance to be influenced was severe as it was explicitly revealed in the play. Most PPLs appear suddenly and zoom in or draw attention to products. According to research data on consumer purchasing psychology on BAC PPL, consumers are dissatisfied with the fact that PPL disturbs the immersion in watching a program or they have to see advertisements before, after and in the middle of the program. This can lead to negative impressions of the object itself. Because of these characteristics of consumers, advertisers prefer unnotified advertisements that do not look like advertisements. On the advertiser's side, there were some advertisers who did not deliberately tell the influencer that it was an advertisement and gave them more money to make a video. According to the contact between YouTuber Tzuyang and the advertiser, confirmed in the chicken social eating show, the advertiser said, "Is it necessary to enter the phrase?" Lee Eun-Hee ( Prof. of Social Science, Chungnam National University) said “For single media by individual creators, human trust in the individual creator has a decisive influence on the success of the media. As consumers in general make decisions based on authentic information and recommendations from people they trust, it is serious for advertisers and marketers to abuse it.”

Second, unnotified advertisements are difficult for consumers to critically accept. As mentioned earlier, influencers have a great influence in Korea and consumers often make decisions based on the information they provide. Due to the trust in influencers also leading to trust in products, it is difficult for consumers to make critical judgments. Additionally, consumers have high reliability and low reluctance to the information that is enhanced by personal experiences. For this reason, unnotified advertisements are mainly made by leaving a review as if an influencer directly purchased and used the product. It is in the same context that YouTubers Kang Min-kyung and Han Hye-yeon produced a content called "Naedon-Naesan*" despite receiving goods and money from advertisers. In addition, when problems such as defects occur in this process, the influencer is not responsible for it, and the consumer and the market economy bear the damage. Lee Eun-Hee ( Prof. of Social Science, Chungnam National University) said “General consumers often make decisions based on genuine information and recommendations from people they trust. Also, when watching single-person media, viewers feel that they communicate with influencers without feeling resistance to advertisements. Advertisers and marketers are exploiting this point of skepticism about advertisements provided by companies but accepting recommendations from acquaintances without doubt.”

 Third, there was a problem with the existing laws. In 1999, the Indication and Advertisement Act was enacted in order to prevent unreasonable signs or advertisements that deceive or deceive consumers by making them illegal. This legislated that a business operator should not engage in any indications or advertisements that may deceive consumers or mislead consumers and acts that may harm the fair trade order. However, this is a matter that applies to advertisers. On this account criticism has been steadily raised that there is virtually no practical provision to restrict unnotified advertisements of most non-advertisers Internet influencers.

Lee Eun-Hee ( Prof. of Social Science, Inha University) said, “As the number of single-person media increases, public interest in unnotified advertisements is increasing. According to the law which will be revised from September 1st, it must be clearly marked so that viewers can recognize it right away using YouTube, Instagram, etc. In particular, the advertisement should be repeatedly shown every 5 minutes so that even consumers who only watch part of the video can easily identify it. In addition, it contains the content that a banner such as “paid advertisement” should be attached so that viewers can confirm that it is an advertisement while the part corresponding to the advertisement is being played as a video. Through this, since viewers can see and know that it is an advertisement, there will be an expected effect of reducing deception or misleading of consumers.”

*Naedon-Naesan : Korean abbreviation It means I paid for it.

By Suh Ji-Won, Reporter

adela6193@pusan.ac.kr