Snap’s PR firm, PR Consulting, has filed a lawsuit against Instagram influencer Luka Sabbat for failing to promote Snapchat’s spectacles camera sunglasses enough on Instagram.Luka Sabbat was approached by Snap Inc’s PR firm to promote the latest edition of Snap’s camera glasses, Spectacles 2. The 20-year-old influencer was paid $45,000 up front with the promise of another $15,000 to post himself wearing Snap’s new Spectacles to his 1.4 million followers on Instagram and include three Instagram Story posts, two of which had to include swipe-to-buy links. Sabbat was also expected to sport the eyewear at least once during fashion week and submit analytics for his one Instagram feed post, which he did not do. Now, Sabbat is being sued for $90,000 to make up for the alleged breach of contract and failing to influence. In their filing, PR Consulting wrote: “Sabbat admitted his default but nonetheless, refused to return any of the funds paid by to him PRC.”
Clearer rules needed
This influencer lawsuit calls into question the rules and transparency surrounding what is expected of influencers and what brands need to do in order to create stricter, clearer guidelines. The ISBA has drawn up influencer marketing contracts to help combat key challenges within the industry, and ensure that brands and influencers understand what is expected of them from the get-go. Clearly, the industry needs to up its game to avoid issues like this repeating as influencers are often caught for questionable behaviour on social media.
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