Ad or Not? Luke Skywalker and His Cool Shades

Actor Mark Hamill, who plays Luke Skywalker in a galaxy far, far away, wants everyone to see his two new movies, the blockbuster “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and the comedy-drama “Brigsby Bear.” In fact, he deems both films worthy of being viewed through some spiffy, Stormtrooper-inspired 3D glasses that he sports in a recent Instagram post broadcast to his 2.3 million followers.

But a full read-through of the lengthy caption indicates that not only is he promoting his Star Wars and Brigsby Bear movies in the post but it’s also a paid promotion for RealD, which shares the same photo of Hamill rocking its special edition Stormtrooper specs on its own Instagram page.

Hamill’s post, however, appears to fall short of the FTC’s mandate that sponsored posts be clearly and conspicuously disclosed as what they truly are, so as to not confuse them with the unbiased, objective posts of the poster. This is especially true when viewed on mobile, where Hamill’s attempt to pass off the promotion as an “artist statement” and, more importantly, the ad hashtag, disappear entirely.

The FTC has said that when making endorsements on Instagram, material connections should be disclosed above the “more” button.

We think Luke ought to steer clear of the dark side of When an individual (or cute pet) promotes a good or service, primarily on social media, because they were paid to do so, or because of a material connection between the person (or pet) and the company and instead clearly and conspicuously denote paid content as ads.

Find more of our coverage on influencers here.