Social Marketing – Floyd ‘Money’ ‘Marketing’ Mayweather

After defeating Manny Pacquiao where he was paid $1 million each by Burger King, Fan Duel and Hublot, Floyd Mayweather posted the following photo on his Instagram account with the caption “I just touched down in Atlanta, GA on Air Mayweather. No luggage is required… just my Diamond Hermès HAC 50 Crocodile money bag…”.

On the face of it, this just looks like a photo of Floyd being Floyd, i.e. flaunting his wealth with his private jet. However, stating the model of the Hermès bag makes it seem as if this is more of an advertisement for the luxury fashion house, rather than just a simple photo.

With this in mind, I wanted to take a closer look at the need for transparency in social media advertising using the ‘UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing’ (the ‘Code’) as created by the Committee of Advertising Practice and administered by the Advertising Standards Authority.

Toeing the line 

The purpose of the Code is to benefit consumers, society and businesses. It ensures that the public is not mistreated and fills in any gaps left open by legislation. To this end, the Code sets out guidelines for businesses to follow and to regulate themselves without the fear of costly litigation.

The Code states that ‘[t]he central principle for all marketing communications is that they should be legal, decent, honest and truthful.’ There therefore needs to be transparency to allow the audience to discern what is and is not a piece of marketing. Hence, any marketing communications must be ‘obviously identifiable as such’.

This is where Mayweather’s Instagram photo falls short. The detailed description of the bag suggests that this is more than just an image for social media, but it does not specify whether or not this is part of a marketing campaign for Hermès – is Mayweather simply showing what he owns (as he has previously done with other items from the same brand) or is this a piece of promotional content?

How to have posted the photo in accordance with the UK Code

If this is a piece of marketing, as I think it likely to be, the Code dictates that Mayweather should have indicated that he was being sponsored by Hermès to post the photo. In recent years, guidelines have been set for UK celebrities to inform their Twitter followers with a specific hashtag, such as ‘#ad’, whenever they are advertising a product or service. This would have been a method for Mayweather to illustrate such a commercial relationship.

But with as much brand equity as Mayweather has, would he have been willing to dilute his captions and personality?

For example, Mayweather signed a shoe deal with Reebok in 2009 which was not renewed in 2010. The story goes that, just three weeks after signing, Mayweather spent thousands in a Nike store and posted photos of the goods on his social media accounts in contravention of his shoe deal – Reebok obviously expressed their displeasure and Mayweather opted to repay Reebok instead of limiting his personal content. On the other hand, in his post-fight interview on May 2, Mayweather thanked Hublot for their sponsorship.

Maybe the reason why he acknowledged Hublot and not Reebok is because of the difference in the type of goods he was promoting and the level of difficulty with which either sponsor could be replaced. Based on this rationale, it follows that Mayweather could also be willing to mention Hermès’ sponsorship especially given suggestions that the bag in the photo is worth $150,000. However, he has not done so in past photos with Hermès products, nor has he done so since.

Hermès also would have its own responsibility to the public in regards to transparency of sponsorship. This is exactly what Hublot did on the day of the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight, by publishing a statement that they had signed a ‘knockout’ partnership with the fighter. On the possibility that the Instagram photo is a piece of marketing, a similar statement should have been made to keep in line with the Code, not least for Hermès’ own marketing purposes.

Moving forward

If you have ever been on Mayweather’s Instagram or seen any of his photos, you know that he often poses with high-end goods but it is nearly always unclear what is and is not a piece of third party marketing. He may not have to use a label as pronounced as ‘#ad’ or ‘#spon’ but, in keeping with the UK’s Code, an indication of sponsorship would do much to improve transparency and protect his audience.

For more information, please do not hesitate to contact me.