Lord & Taylor dressed down for Instagram promotion
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A paisley print dress with an asymmetrical hemline that was described by one fashion website as having a “whimsical design perfect for summer” has gotten retailer Lord & Taylor L.L.C. into hot water with the Federal Trade Commission.
The FTC charged last week that in March 2015, the New York-based retailer placed an article in a fashion magazine promoting the dress, which is part of its private label Design Lab collection, in an online fashion publication, Nylon, without disclosing that it was a paid promotion.
Furthermore, Lord & Taylor also gave the dress, which originally sold for $88, free to 50 fashion “influencers,” and paid them between $1,000 and $4,000 each to post a photo of themselves wearing it on Instagram or another social media site.
Lord & Taylor contractually obligated them to use the “@LordandTaylor” Instagram user designation and the hashtag “#DesignLab” in the caption of the photo they posted.
The company also pre-approved each proposed post, but did not require the influencers to disclose they had compensated them to post the photo, and none of them did. The influencers’ posts reached 11.4 million individual Instagram users over just two days, according to the FTC.
Under terms of the proposed settlement, which does not involve a fine, Lord & Taylor is prohibited from misrepresenting that paid ads are from an independent source, and is required to insure that its influencers clearly disclose when they have been compensated in exchange for their endorsement.
Meanwhile, the dress quickly sold out, said the FTC. At this point, anyway, the 2015 dress is “so last year.”
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