Around the world, debates about the need to regulate bloggers’ activities when they promote branded content arise. Some countries have decided to impose disclosure. Yet, disclosure by a third party and celebrities’ self-disclosure have been shown to reduce influencers’ effectiveness (Boerman, Willemsen, & Van Der Aa, 2017; Colliander & Erlandsson, 2015). Social Media Influencers (SMI) such as bloggers are therefore reluctant to disclose the sponsored nature of their posts, as in other contexts, it has been shown to reduce effectiveness (Charry & Tessitore, 2014). Furthermore, controls that would enforce compliance seems very complex to implement, particularly in a global media environment in which not all countries apply the same regulations. Through a between-subjects experiment (N=139), we explore whether self-imposed disclosure may be an effective and appropriate alternative to regulations. Interestingly, results indicate that although self-disclosure may indeed negatively impact the attitude towards the recommended brand, intentions to buy are not impacted. Followers’ perceptions of the SMI’s motivations explain these results. Self-disclosure restores trust and in turn, followers’ intentions to adopt the SMI’s recommendations. It may therefore be SMI’s most effective response and in their best interest to disclose, to maintain their influence while increasing their followers’ literacy, hence, empowerment. Beyond offering guidance for SMIs, this study therefore provides recommendations to public policy makers.

• Karine Charry(Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium)
• Alice Audrezet(Institut Supérieur de Gestion, France)