Health is Wealth in the Ethics Behind Social Media Campaigns | by mary leydon | Apr, 2023

Influencer marketing is becoming a more popular way for advertising and marketing teams to promote their product. For a reasonable price, and the right influencer, a product can instantly be in front of a large target audience. Products have been known to fly off of shelves if they are “as seen on TikTok”, and overnight have the ability to sell out. What started for products like makeup, clothes, and accessories, has now reached the health industry. Influencer marketing was once used for products to use outside of the body, and now is being used for “health” products that can be consumed and put internally in our bodies. Products like pre-workout and dietary supplements require no prescription, and are considered food, not drugs by the Federal Trade Administration and Food and Drug administration. Therefore, regulations for these products are much less strict when it comes to how they can market them. Using social media influencers is one way to do this. Influencers can often accidentally make false claims, and encourage people to use diet supplements without knowing the repercussions.

A new wave of social media influencers is coming from medical students. These students, who are still in school, have gained the trust of audiences because they have white coats and stethoscopes, and will one day be doctors. Influencers build successful careers from influencer marketing by being trustworthy. Audiences who believe the influencer, will trust their recommendation on products. Most medical students are broke from tuition debt, and will take any money they can from brands, including protein powder companies. Protein powder, which is known to contain kidney toxins and high amounts of sugar, is also a supplement which lacks regulations. Products like creatine powder are being studied now on their long use effects on a person’s organs. Even though they may cause harm, for the right price, new medical student influencers continue to promote these. If a person who looks, and studies, like a doctor promotes a “health” product, the audience continuously perceives it as safe to consume.

Since dietary supplements are not federally regulated, legally, these companies have every right to market themselves using influencers. Morally, for the greater good of the consumers’ health, the companies should not promote these products. An unregulated, un-tested product can have consequences to the body that are unknown. Even though they are promoted as “healthy”, their high sugar and chemical mixes are far from it. These companies are taking advantage of consumers’ trust in medical professionals to sell their product. Studies show that the public will follow influencers who they deem as trustworthy and friendly. But, just because someone seems friendly, we should not listen to their advice when it comes to health and supplements. Although it may be the wrong thing to do, using social media influencers has a high reward, with little risk to the company. These yields also generate larger amounts of income, and successful campaigns to marketing teams.

Patient influencers are also becoming increasingly popular for the advertisement and marketing side of pharmaceuticals. These patient influencers are trusted by their audience, and Pharma is using this to their advantage. Followers who see these testimonies are more likely to ask their doctor about the prescription brand, and 44% of those patients will ultimately be prescribed that brand. This testimony may not be the safest form of marketing, since every follower has different needs, but is bringing in money for the pharma brands. To protect ourselves and others, we need to be weary of these types of campaigns. Not one product is good for all, just because an influencer told us to consume it. These doctor influencers don’t have to be a consumer of the product just to promote it. Viewers are not doing enough research of where their favorite influencers get their information from. Most likely they are just reading a script, provided by the “health” company. The facts supporting the influencers’ claims are biased, and do not explain the negative consequences of consuming the drug or “health” product.

If we are considering all parties involved, the solution to the question “Should the health/health care industry use social media influencers as a form of marketing?”, should be answered by looking at what the greatest good is. For the companies involved, they value money, not the well being of their consumers. The influencers involved care about their reputation and income. They need to be seen as a trusting source, which promotes these products and helps build their reputation. There is no regulation on these products, so the little research on the long term effects make it hard for viewers to make claims against them. Influencers need trust to build a fan base, and that fan base is how they generate revenue. Many of these student-doctor influencers are surviving off the income they generate from social media. Although they took an oath to do no harm, they could be turning a blind eye to this new era of product marketing, to benefit their own lifestyles.

Consumers are trusting people and products because the current age of social media preaches that influencers know all. Influencer marketing is highly effective to influence people to trust the product and convince them to buy it. Being a trend follower has never been more popular thanks to TikTok influencer campaigns. But, the government also needs to do its part in protecting its people. Unregulated “health” products should not be promoted for consumption. It is one thing for a trend to be for something on the outside of your body. But when doctors, and medical students influence products for consumption, it becomes dangerous. Although the public perceives influencers as trusting, their social media posts can be misleading. Consumers should not just rely on the internet for the products they are going to put into their body. The greater good over evil here is helping mass amounts of consumers from unsafe products, they have been convinced are safe. When looking at the greater good, the health/health care industry should not use social media influencers as a form of marketing. We do not know enough about these unregulated products for consumption to be feeding them to consumers in the United States.

When working in the marketing and advertising industry, above all, the health and wellbeing of consumers should be an important value for companies to hold. Money, although a necessity, should not come above health. Unregulated products do not need to be advertised using social marketing campaigns. Building false trust in consumers can lead to long term health effects. Health is wealth when looking at the greater good of the American people. The health and health care industry should not use social media influencers as a form of marketing. It is unnecessary pushing products for consumption that can cause harm when consumed. As marketers, we need to have values that uphold the safety of consumers, and putting wealth over health jeopardizes those standards. Products will still be sold without using unneeded social media campaigns and influencers. There is no need for companies to be greedy when products are being ingested by others.