Before June, and perhaps, before the industry changes forever, let’s clear the air.
First of all, I’ve never considered myself an Influencer. I don’t categorize myself as one, and I’ve never set out to become one. I have spoken about this differentiation to both private and public groups, on panels and to various audiences. I know who the influencers are in the world of F&B in the UAE, and for many reasons, we are in separate categories. If we’re getting into semantics, I would most closely identify as a food writer or food blogger. And for the record, I’m not addressing fashion, beauty, lifestyle, or fitness influencers — my comments are solely focused on food and travel.
Although you might find this difficult to believe, when I’m invited to a restaurant, it is rarely with specific deliverables. I have cultivated good relationships within the industry, and don’t have to spell out what I’m going to do. Overall, I see my visits to venues as a chance to honestly review and share that feedback with my readers (and in some cases, directly with the outlet). Yes, I’m well aware of the unspoken expectations of the brand, but in the event where 1) I had to meet specific requirements, and 2) no money was exchanged, I have always over-delivered. As someone who reviews and dines out a minimum of two times a week, my feedback is genuine. If you’ve read my blog for awhile, you’ll know I have been invited to venues and not liked what was on offer. And written just that. Even when I’m friends with the team, PR, or chef. I have provided public and private feedback. Sometimes, this practice has resulted in me being blacklisted by certain agencies, other times, the company will take my feedback as it was intended — as constructive criticism.
So, enough about me. Before we go much further, this is how the government defines an Influencer (from the National Media Council):
“Any person who practices the above-mentioned media activities on Social Media, on a commercial basis, shall obtain a prior license from the Council, provided that:
1. It shall have an account on the generally recognized Social Media;
2. Ads that are presented on Social Media shall be subject to the advertising standards that are applicable at the Council;
3. Social Media accounts’ owners who offer paid advertising services shall obtain a license from the National Media Council in accordance with the applicable regulations in this regard and hereunder.
4. The account owner is responsible for the content of the account.”
While I’m active and ‘generally recognized’ on social media, I rarely (if ever) advertise. When I do advertise — this is, being paid to post — I always clearly mark the post as #sponsored. As I’m usually an invited guest of a venue, my first hashtag is usually #invited, and all of my blog posts clearly state if I am a guest or not. Furthermore, as I often cross-post to Zomato, I would be non-compliant if I was taking money for visits to restaurants — and I completely understand and respect that mentality. There is a difference between ‘here, come and eat my food and tell me what you think’ and ‘here’s some money to come to my restaurant, we really hope you like it (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).’
Most recently, the NMC is calling for regulation on ‘free gifts and experiences in exchange for coverage on their channels.’ Guys, there’s no getting around it — that’s precisely what I do, and what many of my friends in the industry do. Thus, in the past week, my DMs have been blowing up with this topic. While I’m not going to name anyone specifically, here’s where things generally come down:
- This type of framework is (overall) a good thing. Transparency and regulation are absolutely fine and perhaps, overdue. While I always declare when a meal was paid for, both on this blog and on my Instagram, it’s not consistently the case across my section of the industry. I honestly wish those with more significant accounts and industry leaders would have done a little more ‘best practice’ before now, but they tend not to, so I can only continue to look after my backyard.
- Honestly, I’m very surprised not to have seen ANY movement from the PR/Marketing side (and I say this with lots of love for the other side of the fence). I have great relationships with many PR professionals in town, and only one or two has asked me to provide evidence of a license, or if I’m compliant in any way (really, this goes back months). This leads me to wonder:
- Who is supposed to protect the client? The agency or the brand itself? I would assume when the agency contacts an influencer, that it is on the agency to ensure everything is above board. If I was a client, that is what I would be paying for.
- In fact, if I did have a license, I’d be flaunting it everywhere. I’m also a bit shocked no one has taken this approach…which leads me to believe almost no one has a license — even those who can well afford it.
- Similarly, for those influencers who have agency representation, wow, I feel sorry for how things are playing out. If I were an agency, I’d be fighting hard against this, because really, what motivation is there for an influencer to stay in-house?
- Most of us wouldn’t mind paying for a license every year. Personally, I would feel comfortable paying AED1,000 per year. This amount feels fair to what I do/what I make and for administrative fees, I would be happy to comply.
- On the topic of money, 30K is overwhelmingly too high for almost everyone I know.
- If the license is enforced, all of us will have to stop what we’re doing — which is more and more looking like what will happen (well, to a point, I’ll address some additional questions below).
- If the PR doesn’t ask for a license, we can consider taking free meals as usual, but run the risk of the 5K fine (which is considerably cheaper than the 30K licensing).
- If we take the risk of the fine, but do get charged for posting against the law (???), how exactly is this enforced? Who is the payment made towards?
- How exactly will the evidence be presented?
- So many more questions.
And because I’m trying to start a dialogue, here are my predictions and ongoing questions:
- I’m not saying this is going to be a Good Conduct situation, but I’m not NOT saying that (but I’m totally hoping it is).
- For everyone saying this will get influencers to be more professional and step up… I understand where you’re coming from, but I think that approach is best geared towards the top 5% and doesn’t really apply to the rest of us. Don’t get me wrong, I think the market is saturated with people who are just in this for a free meal, but there are some of us who make a real effort to write, edit, and research.
- What happens when someone is covering a meal for a magazine or other online platform? These meals are usually comped. If someone is writing an article, and that meal is free, are they an influencer, or an employee of the media outlet?
- If someone is employed as a brand ambassador, what category do they fall into?
- If someone in the UAE travels abroad and receives free product (a meal or trip, in my case), how does that impact my posting in the UAE?
- What if I’m a guest of the chef? I’m certainly friendly with plenty of professionals in the industry — what’s stopping them from having Courtney in for a nice dinner? And what happens if I take photos of said meal?
- If I go to a meal this month, but post about it next month, am I still compliant? What is the statute of limitations?
- At the end of the day, are we all going to have to start carrying around literal and figurative receipts? After all, what other method can be used to track whether or not a meal was comped?
- Can I be your +1? 🙂
With the new laws set to affect the UAE in the coming months, I can only say what’s right for me. I wish I could be entirely independent, ala Food Sheikh, but the reality is that I don’t have the money to support that sort of habit, nor do I have an extra 30K lying around to be compliant. Essentially, I think June will be a very quiet month on social media, as many of us will not want to overstep, and that makes me a bit sad. I look forward to reading what many of my colleagues write about, and where they go.
How about you? What do you think about the upcoming rules? Are you going to make any changes?
