Athlete Twitter Pages

Bryce Harper, 20-year-old outfielder for the Washington Nationals and the 2012 Rookie of the Year in the National League, has already starred in ads for car insurance and workout gear. But is Harper’s Twitter account one extended advertising stream? And are the ads clearly marked?

This tweet is clearly an advertisement:

As a FREE All-Star THANKS to my fans, T-Mobile will send you my personalized, digitally autographed pic, if you tweet: @TMobile #HARPER

— Bryce Harper (@Bharper3407) July 16, 2013

But what about this?

Legit! @UnderArmour #ASG #UA pic.twitter.com/SIG0dRbT0j

— Bryce Harper (@Bharper3407) July 18, 2013

Or this one?

Shout out to @Gatorade for having me in today! It was a lot of fun and was great to be able to meet everybody! #WFW pic.twitter.com/SB08M00rxg

— Bryce Harper (@Bharper3407) August 21, 2013

When professional athletes tweet about companies, it can be difficult to tell whether the tweet constitutes a paid advertisement or the athlete’s uncompensated opinion. The ASA recently ruled that a tweet by soccer star Wayne Rooney was not deceptive because the tweet was clearly an advertisement. But some of Harper’s and other athletes’ tweets are not so clearly marked as marketing materials. Consumers should be aware that many tweets on an athlete’s page are paid for.

Update: While Under Armour was presumably too busy “inventing performance” to respond to TINA.org’s requests for comment, the FTC did say that:

You are correct that the FTC cannot monitor every tweet. Nevertheless, we are paying attention. And because most advertisers want to follow the rules, (and want their competitors to follow the rules), we tend to find out when things are seriously amiss.

For more on Twitter ads, click here.