Conclusion

Feeling overwhelmed yet with the information overload?

Well, this is it, your reached the final post of this beneficial blog. With all the information you have obtained about IG, you can now finally say "I am IG certified". You now know all measures to take and not to take through the use of this social media platform.

First and foremost, we now know how much of a drastic effect Instagram can have on each and every one of our lives. Mostly... NEGATIVE! Also, you have have realized that most of the negative effects are produced through the posts of female Instagram celebrities and through the misuse of the users. By now, you have knowledge of what we mean by negative, and that is the mental health issues arising, dangers of following strangers, effects of image content and the list continues.

We need to put a stop to this misuse of IG once and for all through various methods of prevention. One way to stop this is to minimize the amount of people followed, specifically celebrities. This highly applies to the individuals with intense levels of celebrity worship. As for the other Instagram users, all we can say is to be careful of how you interpret the image content of these well known celebrities on Instagram. An individual can also take precautionary measures when providing certain information on this social media platform. There are also many other ways to prevent the negative effects from arising, by reading the previous posts, you probably already know all the other way to be careful.

Until next time Instaglamers!

Dangers of Following Strangers

        Users of social media in the U.S. do not realize the risk they're going through by following individuals they don't now, such as celebrities. Following unknown users could be harmful to the Instagram user since the other individual will now have access to his/her whole online profile. Teens especially post personal information like first name, location, and age on their profiles(Lenhart and Madden, 2007). Despite the seemingly very obvious risks, there is still a startlingly high number of posters that actually include their home address, phone numbers, and other information that could aid any stranger on their friend list to locate them.



       A survey was done on certain focus groups conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. It demonstrated instance of teens providing or protecting personal information on their online profile. Teens aged 14-17 are more likely to share personal information on their online profiles: with 76% including their school name, 23% including cell phone number, and 94% including personal photos(Madden et. al, 2013). Comparatively, teens aged 12-13 do not provide as much information, with only 56% providing school name, 11% providing cell phone number and 82% posting personal photos (Madden et. al, 2013). It was also concluded that 63% of teens believe that a motivated person could eventually identify them from the public information they provided on their online profiles (Kong, 2015). This could pose a serious threat to IG users since they might not be aware of a follower actively trying to determine their location.

       The higher the personal value for number of followers on IG, the more likely the person is to request following strangers. A following frenzy can be started by following celebrities, and depending on the intensity of celebrity worship, they may start to look through other followers of that celebrity, adding them to their own following. The degree of celebrity worship can also be a determining factor to the amount of personal information shared. Sometimes users will believe that in order to get recognized by the celebrity, he/she must provide enough information about themselves, so that he/she will grow familiar and eventually the celebrity will initiate contact.

With the research provided, one should always take precautions when posting information on their Instagram profile, or really any type of social media. IG users in particular should minimize the intensity of their celebrity worship to reduce potential risks.

Ethical Behaviour and Policy in Relation to Product Endorsement

       So now that you know about some of the gimmick products female celebrities endorse, and how often people fall for those gimmicks, how do you feel? Probably angry, probably betrayed, maybe even a little bit distrustful. You’d be right to feel that way! While these women are cashing in their millions of dollars, hundreds of millions of women across the U.S. are shelling out their own hard-earned cash on products that make false claims. In fact, women are twice as likely to buy celebrity-endorsed products than men (Kirkova, 2014).

    Not only is it deceiving to endorse gimmick products, but more often than not, posters don’t even disclaim that the post is sponsored and paid for in the first place! On one end of the spectrum, it’s sneaky and illegitimate, but on the other end, this can be downright dangerous (Knoll and Matthes, 2017)!

       Perhaps most notably, in 2015 Kim Kardashian posted yet another selfie of her holding up a bottle of Diclegis, a supplement for morning sickness, and spouting off praises for this miracle drug to her then 40 million followers. She even continued to say “And most importantly, it’s been studied and there’s no increased risk to the baby!” What Kim KW didn’t disclose, whether intentionally or not, was any of the side effects or medical risks of the pharmaceutical supplement, a MAJOR clear-cut requirement upheld by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) (Kroll, 2015). As a result of the severe violation of the crucial legal rules regarding how drugs may be marketed, the FDA sent a warning letter to the pharmaceutical company saying the post was “false or misleading in that it presents efficacy claims for Diclegis, but fails to communicate any risk information associated with its use and it omits material facts” (Kroll, 2015). Doctors and the FDA have statistically confirmed that there is no drug that comes without any medical side effects or risks, not to mention possible other drug interactions (FDA Testimony, 2001). This is a huge safety issue and luckily, the post was eventually edited and finally deleted.

       Legally, advertising practices in the U.S. fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal Trade Commission. However the guidelines updated in May 2015 are merely that, guidelines (Wu, 2016). It’s a rough regulation system with no civil penalties involved and yet it has still been met with so much resistance. Ordinarily, all sponsored content is supposed to be marked clearly as such, but IG users don’t like to disclaim if a post is #sponsored or an #ad, because they feel that it makes their posts less organic*.

       We can totally understand how disclaiming that your picture with a collection of twelve $55 tubes of lipstick (sent to you for free, along with $100,000 in cash) might make you seem less organic...