Examining Influencer Marketing Practices and Disclosure in Malaysia

Abstract

Recent times have seen social media influencers becoming the foundation of ‘influencer’ based marketing practices. This phenomenon raises certain legal concerns, including the issue of disclosure. This study examined influencer marketing practices in Malaysia on Instagram and explored Malaysia’s need to review its regulation, especially when it comes to disclosure. Although preliminary, the findings of this study give an overview of the marketing practices undertaken by these influencers and the lack of disclosure of ‘material connection’ between the business or brand and the influencers. It is concluded that Malaysia needs to acknowledge this concern and revised its laws. Keywords: disclosure; influencer marketing; social media; regulation eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2021. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: