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DJ Khaled

TINA.org investigated the social media accounts of record producer DJ Khaled and found that he was deceptively marketing various alcohol brands — Diageo’s Cîroc vodka, Bacardi’s D’Usse cognac, and Sovereign Brands’ Belaire sparkling wines and Bumbu rum — to his millions of followers, many of whom were under the age of 21, without disclosing his material connection to the alcohol companies.

Highlights

  • Sent warning letters to DJ Khaled
  • DJ Khaled fixed deceptive posts and halted marketing of alcohol brands on Snapchat
  • FTC sent letter to DJ Khaled reminding him of legal obligations
  • Sent notice of law pertaining to NFT promotions if material connection exists

Endorsed Brands

Timeline

2022
August 8

As part of an investigation into celebrities promoting non-fungible tokens (NFTs), TINA.org sends DJ Khaled a letter putting him on notice of the applicable law to the extent he has a material connection to any of the NFT companies he promotes on his social media channels.

July 12

TINA.org replies to DJ Khaled’s legal team regarding his material connection to Diageo and Ciroc as evidenced by a national television commercial for Ciroc that features Khaled and which aired in May and June 2022.

July 8

DJ Khaled’s legal team responds to TINA.org stating that Khaled has no contractual, financial or any other relationship with Diageo, owner of the Ciroc brand, but that, in an abundance of caution, the posts identified by TINA.org have been deleted.

June 27

TINA.org sends a letter to DJ Khaled’s attorneys, as well as to Diageo, notifying them of TINA.org’s findings of several Instagram posts by DJ Khaled from June 2022 that repeat the same problematic issues flagged by the FTC and TINA.org years ago. TINA.org provides a copy of the letter to the FTC.

2018
June 14

Prompted by TINA.org’s investigation and findings, the FTC sends a letter to DJ Khaled reminding him of his legal obligations to clearly and conspicuously disclose his material connections to products that he endorses on social media, as well as his obligation to abide by the alcohol industry’s codes when endorsing alcohol brands on his social media posts.

April 10

TINA.org replies to Diageo.

April 9

Diageo responds to TINA.org’s letter.

March 30 - April 8

TINA.org’s audits of DJ Khaled’s social media accounts reveal that he stopped actively promoting alcohol on his social media accounts after receiving the warning letter, and came clean about his liquor endorsement deals in more than 150 prior posts on Facebook and Instagram by adding #AD to the captions, while deleting more than a dozen undisclosed alcohol ads on Twitter.

April 6

DJ Khaled’s attorney responds to TINA.org’s letter, and TINA.org replies the same day.

April 5

Bacardi responds to TINA.org’s letter, and TINA.org replies the same day.

March 29

TINA.org sends a warning letter to DJ Khaled’s attorneys on behalf of TINA.org, Public Citizen, Alcohol Justice, US Alcohol Policy Alliance, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, The Center for Digital Democracy, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving notifying them of TINA.org’s findings regarding DJ Khaled’s problematic alcohol marketing on Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and asking that he and his sponsors immediately remove all deceptive and illegal social media alcohol posts from circulation and ensure that all future posts are clearly and conspicuously labeled as advertisements and not targeted at minors. Copies of the letter were provided to DJ Khaled, Diageo, Bacardi, Sovereign Brands, and others.

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DJ Khaled’s Snapchat Sobers Up

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DJ Khaled’s Snapchat Sobers Up

Groups Challenge Deceptive Influencer Marketing of Alcohol MADISON, CONN. April 9, 2018 – Hip-hop producer and “King of Snapchat” DJ Khaled has scaled back his rampant promotion of alcohol on…

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