CW: harassment, discussion of a request for explicit materials from minors.
In influencer marketing, there are plenty of best practices. When reaching out to an influencer, you want to be polite, clear about the campaign deliverables, and at least seem to grasp the kind of content they make. Many of us would suggest going much further— getting to know the influencers you work with, considering DE&I a core part of campaign building, and showing excitement about the campaign you’re pitching. Sure, some of us may be divided over whether or not to include the brief in the outbound (IMO: no, that’s the hook email, send out the nitty gritty if they’re interested) or when to talk rates but on the whole I’d like to think we agree that we should be clear and respectful.
The campaign email sent out to a number of women on #booktok was far from respectful. It’s hard to really call the pitch a pitch. The word ‘harassment’ is much more fitting.
Four weeks ago, influencers on #booktok received a campaign pitch. The space is already used for its fair share of marketing campaigns. Authors are expected to spearhead social media marketing efforts on their accounts. Publishing houses see the value of #booktok, just as they did #bookstagram. Amateur reviewers frequently receive NetGalleys and ARCs (advanced reader’s copies) to drum up conversation on social media and Goodreads. Book retailer Barnes & Noble even organizes tables based on #booktok, and some say #booktok has changed around sales as Barnes & Noble has struggled to compete with Amazon. #Booktok influencers are used to pitches, and the pitch sent by J.D Barker’s marketing team was far from your average pitch.
The email sent to influencers contained four prompts, one was to answer the question “What is the most taboo place you've ever had sex?” Another prompt suggested influencers, including some who were under 18, “camera pan up or down the body using only the book to cover up your naughty bits.”
J.D Barker, the author whose book is at the center of this controversy, claims these pitches were made by the PR firm in charge of marketing his book and he was not involved. Though the email received by influencers does note that “Barker will personally review each video and either approve it (triggering payment) or offer suggestions to get it approved.”
Author K.M Robinson and entertainment lawyer Tony Iliakostas discussed the legal side of the situation on a YouTube podcast, highlighting the numerous issues with the campaign, beyond safety, touching upon the importance of complying with FTC influencer guidelines. It’s worth mentioning that if the pitched content were to run on TikTok there are platform-specific rules regarding nudity and explicit content. Namely that “Nudity, pornography, or sexually explicit content are not allowed on our platform” Further “Any videos that depict, involve, or are related to the sexual exploitation, targeting, or endangerment of a minor… are strictly prohibited.” Any influencer who partook would’ve risked suspension from the platform.
Influencers should never feel threatened by a campaign pitch. No campaign should ever request nudity, partial or otherwise, from influencers. No campaign should ever reach out to minors for advertising content that is sexually explicit or suggestive. Respect and safety are utmost in working with any form of contractor. It is the responsibility of all parties soliciting paid content to ensure compliance with regulations and community guidelines as well as ensuring a campaign is safe for all involved.
It’s no secret that #booktok is a space on TikTok dominated by young women. This also isn’t the first time sexually explicit content has been a concern with #booktok. Just this week, The Guardian released an article about how #booktok potentially exposes children to mature content. The popularity of romantasy books and books with ‘spice’ on #booktok leads to concern for young readers. The pitch to influencers on the J.D Barker campaign emphasized ‘spice’ and further exacerbated concerns. This campaign shows how little the organizers behind it understood about #booktok. While able to use buzzy words used on #booktok they seemed to disregard (or, if I’m generous, showed ignorance of) current issues in the niche.
The pitch is damning, in and of itself. So many questions arise upon reading through the pitch. As an influencer marketer, every stage of the campaign process seems bungled. Did no one vet the list to ensure everyone was over 18? Was there any plan in place to comply with community guidelines and FTC disclosures? Did no one QA the pitch email? Why would every potential rate be listed in the body of the pitch? Why are those rates based on followers and not engagements of prospective conversions? And how on Earth was this campaign approved to send to a list of young women and girls they clearly had no prior working relationship with?
It’s hard to talk about what went wrong with this campaign because nothing about it was right. It’s concerning, offensive, and honestly dangerous. At the very least, I hope this campaign can be a reminder for influencer marketers that we have real responsibility for our work. We should always strive for fairness, safety, and equity. We should protect the people we work with and treat them with respect.