Promotion with discount codes = sneaky advertising?

Comparison to influencer sneaking advertising

I have already written in the blog about the current verdicts on influencers and sneaky advertising. You can read about it directly via the search here. I also explained that the issue affects other influencers, streamers or Esport teams as well.

Although the risk is really very high to receive a warning and then to be stuck in a quandary as to whether to make a possible complicated declaration of injunction or face legal proceedings, I have been on my regular visits to Twitter or Facebook still constantly feel that many are not taking the situation seriously.

What is advertising with discount codes all about?

To make it clear again: if you advertise a service, product, online shop, manufacturer or anything commercial on a social media platform or on your own website, then it must be clear from the post that the post is a good thing. Advertising is trade and, of course, it must also be made clear if there is a consideration for the postal service. Since courts currently decide even up to the higher regional courts that an advertising post without consideration must be marked, this applies in my opinion even more so to posts that have, for example, only an indirect consideration. So if you as a streamer, Esport team or other person/company with a certain reach and/or with commercial intentions advertise a product or an online store with a discount code for example in the way of “Go to XY and save 20% with the code TollerHerstellerXY“, then this has to be marked accordingly and sufficiently. This applies in particular if, as usual, a commission is also paid to the team/streamer/influencer for each product sold and, of course, if such posts are made in the context of monthly payments or in return for the provision of hardware, for example, to their own players. It is precisely this fact that must be made clear by appropriate labelling. Apart from the decision of the Heilbronn Regional Court, there are still no direct decisions on this matter. However, the trend is unmistakable and does not really require any other assessment.

And therefore…

Also, one will rather not be able to say that everyone is aware that advertising with a discount code is commercial communication. The courts have so far, directly or indirectly, indicated in all decisions that the personal touch on social media channels, often also mixed with personal content, non-commercial information and many more, is a stricter scale than, for example, on a company side.

Don’t take any risks, get advice and act professionally. You can save yourself a lot of trouble.

Author: Marian Härtel

Marian Härtel ist Rechtsanwalt und Fachanwalt für IT-Recht mit einer über 25-jährigen Erfahrung als Unternehmer und Berater in den Bereichen Games, E-Sport, Blockchain, SaaS und Künstliche Intelligenz. Seine Beratungsschwerpunkte umfassen neben dem IT-Recht insbesondere das Urheberrecht, Medienrecht sowie Wettbewerbsrecht. Er betreut schwerpunktmäßig Start-ups, Agenturen und Influencer, die er in strategischen Fragen, komplexen Vertragsangelegenheiten sowie bei Investitionsprojekten begleitet. Dabei zeichnet sich seine Beratung durch einen interdisziplinären Ansatz aus, der juristische Expertise und langjährige unternehmerische Erfahrung miteinander verbindet. Ziel seiner Tätigkeit ist stets, Mandanten praxisorientierte Lösungen anzubieten und rechtlich fundierte Unterstützung bei der Umsetzung innovativer Geschäftsmodelle zu gewährleisten.