Influencer marketing and ethics? An interview study into the meaning of followers, influencers and brands to the ethicalframeworks surrounding influencer marketing

Influencer marketing is a tremendously popular marketing strategy for brands and businesses. Yet, even though the strategy has matured and professionalised, there is still a lack of ethical accountability for the group that practices this type of marketing. The current study used in-depth interviews to map how influencers, brands and followers perceive the risks, the accountability and the interests of all stake-holders withing influencer marketing. The study shows that they employ three different perspectives when regarding the (lack of) ethical guidelines for influencer-marketing. Specifically, they employ a socio-cultural, societal or a professional per-spective in doing so.