KFTC may punish BBQ for hiding paid promos
Popular YouTuber Tzuyang apologizes on her channel after admitting that she had deceived her viewers about sponsored content on Aug. 6. / Screen captured from Tzuyang's YouTube channel
By Kim Jae-heun
The country's top antitrust agency is considering taking action against Genesis BBQ over its alleged undisclosed payment to YouTubers.
“Even if YouTubers make revisions to confess the products they introduced in their video are sponsored later, they can be subjected to penalties. Though, we will take into consideration that they made changes when deciding the level of penalty according to the law,” an official at the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) told The Korea Times, Monday.
“We hope our new guideline can further prevent deceitful advertising cases and provide only true and honest information to the customers. We will keep monitoring YouTubers in the near future too,” the official added.
The remarks came after YouTubers Bokyem and Yangpang, who have 40.3 million and 2.54 million subscribers to their channels, respectively, recently admitted that they had not identified sponsored content as paid advertisements when their videos introduced Genesis BBQ's new menu items in April and May.
The chicken franchise paid the two for the online promotion, but they did not notify their viewers that the videos were sponsored.
In fact, Bokyem and Yangpang also did not disclose that they received monetary compensation from Genesis BBQ to film “mukbang,” or binge-eating shows, featuring the company's food items.
Another YouTuber named Cham PD released evidence he gathered over the last two years showing that the two have been receiving money for promoting products. Bokyem and Yangpang conceded this and issued apologies.
The public criticism then shifted to Genesis BBQ, alleging that it had requested the YouTubers to hide from viewers the fact that the videos were sponsored.
Some netizens have suggested boycotting the company as well as other brands such as Puma and Jinsagalbi restaurants that have been embroiled in similar scandals.
Genesis BBQ Chairman Yoon Hong-geun / Korea Times file
With regard to the regulator's possible punishment against the company, a Genesis BBQ official said, “We neither knew about YouTubers deceiving their viewers about our sponsorship deals nor asked them to do so. Usually, PR agencies contact YouTubers to advertise for franchise brands and we don't ask for detailed favors to do the promotion as it is not an advertisement.”
“(Genesis) BBQ has various commercials on radio and television. There is no reason for us to advertise deceptively on YouTube. We didn't know until it became controversial that the videos were not labeled as paid content on the YouTubers' channels,” the official added.
The chicken franchise said it will monitor its ads on YouTube more closely from now on and make sure influencers follow the legal procedures.
The KFTC recently announced that it will revise advertising guidelines for social media platforms to require influencers to make it clear whether their videos are sponsored or not.
The antitrust watchdog's guidelines will go into effect starting September and it will penalize violators following a grace period of a few months.
Both individual YouTubers and corporate sponsors will be subject to the new regulations and violators will be fined up to 2 percent of related sales and revenue or 500 million won.
Influencers on Instagram and Facebook too will have to make clear that their product endorsements are “financially rewarded or intended for promotion.” Vague wording like “thanks to” will be viewed as non-disclosure.
According to the Korea Consumer Agency, only 29.9 percent of 582 videos uploaded by the top 60 influencers on YouTube disclosed sponsorship arrangements in September and November last year.