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A U.S.-based consumer group has issued a warning to celebrities against promoting NFT projects without disclosing their connections or material gains from these activities. Truth in Advertising (TINA) warned Floyd Mayweather, Paris Hilton, DJ Khaled, and a dozen others who have been pushing NFTs on social media in recent months.
This week, TINA reminded the celebrities that they have a legal obligation to disclose any material connection to any company they promote, per Federal Trade Commission (FTC) law. The group named boxer Mayweather (not the first time he’s been linked to digital asset-related crime), socialite Paris Hilton, actresses Eva Longoria and Gwyneth Paltrow, rappers Eminem and Meek Mill, and singer Madonna, among the many celebrities who have promoted NFT projects.
TINA also named Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), World of Women, and Autograph as some of the NFT collections that the celebrities have promoted.
“But the bottom line is celebrities who promote NFTs generally aren’t helping improve the financial literacy of their fans and followers. And while some of these celebrities are able to take risks due to their massive wealth, many vulnerable consumers don’t have that luxury,” the consumer group concluded.
The latest warning came just two months after TINA issued a warning to musician Justin Bieber and actress Reese Witherspoon. Bieber has been promoting InBetweeners, an NFT collection that lists him as a ‘partner’ on its website.
In response, the Sorry and Love Yourself hitmaker’s legal team denied any wrongdoing. However, it claimed it would “update his posts concerning inBetweeners in order to further underscore his widely publicized connection with that company. To date, no changes have been made.
Witherspoon has been pushing the World of Women collection without disclosing that her company, Hello Sunshine, has a partnership with the collection.
In response, the Legally Blonde star claimed that the partnership was purely to push women into NFTs and that it represented no material gains for her.
TINA maintains that the stars have been violating the FTC law that states: “If an endorser has a material connection to a brand and/or company, then that material connection must be clearly and conspicuously disclosed because it can affect the weight or credibility that consumers give the endorsement.”
Some celebrities named on the list have been accused of other digital asset-related crimes, mostly related to pushing dubious projects. Mayweather, for instance, was a key figure in the promotion of EthereumMax, a shitcoin that has plunged almost to zero, alongside socialite Kim Kardashian.
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