Research on the Impact and Problems of Brand Hidden Marketing in

Social Media Platforms

Yanxin Wang

College of Education and Human Ecology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio State, U.S.A.

Keywords: Social Media, Advertisement, Marketing.

Abstract: Along with the development of digitalization and social media, user-generated content (UGC) implicit

marketing has received widespread attention as an innovative promotional strategy, yet it still has

shortcomings in terms of being transparent and ethical, which need to be further examined and enhanced. This

essay analyzes the characteristics and roles of UGC blind marketing, discusses its effectiveness in attracting

consumers and enhancing brand awareness, and reveals the challenges faced in its commoditization process.

The analysis shows that while UGC blind marketing enhances brand influence, it may trigger negative impacts

if it lacks transparency management. Based on this, this essay proposes the following recommendations:

optimizing the way brands and influencers work together, and platforms to strengthen regulation for more

responsible and sustainable marketing practices.

1 INTRODUCTION

The digital marketing landscape has changed with the

rise of non-traditional advertising methods. Helping

brands communicate through user-generated content

(UGC) has increasingly become a cost-effective

marketing tool favored by major brands. UGC is

content created by consumers rather than brands,

collaboration with influencers to produce UGC

content has become a critical tool in modern brand

marketing, allowing companies to engage their target

audience in a more natural and less intrusive engage

their target audience in a more natural and less

intrusive way (Advani & Gokhale, 2023). By

integrating marketing messages into seemingly

authentic and stand-alone content, UGC enables

brands to influence consumer behavior without the

overt commercialization often associated with

traditional advertising. This phenomenon, often

known as UGC marketing, represents a shift towards

integrating promotional messages into everyday

consumer interactions, creating a seamless and more

imperceptible form of advertisement (Zhuang, et al.,

2023).

UGC's implicit marketing is especially common

on social media platforms. Within digital media, user

interactions help to drive brand awareness and

engagement. Brands are increasingly relying on UGC

to foster authenticity and build stronger connections

with their audiences. Through carefully crafted

content, companies can skillfully embed promotional

messages into user-driven narratives, increasing brand

credibility while circumventing the resistance many

consumers have shown to traditional advertising

methods (Chung, et al., 2023). This transformation to

a more subtle form of marketing reflects broader

changes in the way consumers interact with digital

content, and how brands must adapt to remain relevant

and trustworthy of content.

Beyond its effectiveness, however, blind

advertising in UGC presents significant ethical

challenges. Chief among these is the issue of

transparency. The blurred boundaries of paid or self-

directed promotional content contained in UGC

content can frequently perplex consumers, as many

audiences will not realize that the content they are

interacting with has been crafted to promote a product

or brand (Annabell, et al., 2024). Lacking

transparency may undermine consumers' trust and

even create a sense of defection as a result.

Furthermore, the mixing of organic content with blind

advertisements triggers questions about the

authenticity of user-driven narratives as well as the

ethical responsibility of brands to ensure that their

marketing strategies are not misguided (Florenthal,

2019).

As stealth marketing through UGC continues to

evolve, it is becoming increasingly necessary to

670

Wang, Y.

Research on the Impact and Problems of Brand Hidden Marketing in Social Media Platforms.

DOI: 10.5220/0014001100004916

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Public Relations and Media Communication (PRMC 2025), pages 670-674

ISBN: 978-989-758-778-8

address these issues. To mitigate the risk of consumer

deception and maintain ethical standards, strategies

must be implemented to increase the transparency of

UGC activities. Regulatory frameworks that ensure

clear disclosure of commercial intent, as well as best

practices for influencers and platforms, are critical to

promoting a more responsible approach to digital

marketing (Muda & Hamzah, 2021; Geng & Chen,

2021). This paper discusses these issues in depth,

offering insights into how brands can navigate the

ethical complexities of UGC commoditization while

achieving their marketing goals. It will discuss how

to balance the effectiveness of implicit advertising

against how to preserve consumers' trust.

2 CHARACTERISTICS AND

ROLE OF UGC BLIND

MARKETING

2.1 Blind Advertising (Definition) and

Its Appearance as a Marketing

Strategy

UGC derives from the development of social media

and relates to the innovative text, image, audio, and

video content created by non-specialized users. Blind

advertising, promotes a brand's or product's message

in a non-directive matter without explicitly informing

the audience of its advertising attributes. The

emergence of this strategy is intimately linked to

consumer resistance to traditional forms of

advertising. Research has shown that explicit

advertisements reduce the effectiveness of

advertisements by triggering consumer resistance

from time to time due to their apparent commercial

intentions (Florenthal, 2019). As expectations for an

authentic and personalized content increase, this

strategy further strengthens its position as a marketing

tool, affording brands new opportunities to shape the

attitudes of their audiences. However, singular

avoidance of advertising can prevent brands from

achieving their desired promotional goals. Hence, an

increasing number of brands have begun to target the

UGC segment and attempt to partner with vegetarian

influencers on social media to advertise their products.

2.2 Effectiveness of UGC in Engaging

Consumers and Shaping Brand

Perception

The effectiveness of UGC lies in its ability to enhance

consumers' engagement through authenticity and

emotional connection. First, the authenticity and

variety of UGC content crucial factors for engaging

consumers. Consumers tend to perceive

recommendations from other users as more credible

since the content is often perceived as genuine

experiences without the brand's intervention (Muda &

Hamzah, 2021). For example, a study indicated that

consumers are more likely to trust and purchase

products that are published by UGC because they

perceive them as recommendations from real users

rather than self-promotion by brands (Advani &

Gokhale, 2023). Additionally, via interactions and

recommendations between users of the platform, UGC

content can quickly achieve full dissemination in

massive flows of information related to brand

messages. In turn, it seeks brand visibility and social

peripheral status. Moreover, UGC content is

characterized by low cost and the ability to be applied

in parallel time domains: by refining public

evaluations and guiding purchase motivations,

improving the sophistication displayed by the brand in

human teams as well as parsing the overall industry

(Florenthal, 2019).

2.3 UGC Commoditization for

Branding

UGC commoditization, that is, brands incentivize

users to create brand-related content for commercial

purposes, enabling brands to leverage users' existing

social networks to rapidly expand and increase market

coverage (Chung, et al., 2023). For example, by

launching challenge events, brands can inspire users

to actively participate in content creation, thus

creating a spontaneous promotional effect. Then, the

authenticity quality of UGC could enhance the

credibility of the brand. User-generated content makes

consumers more receptive to the message due to its

seemingly untouched by the brand intervention

(Kitsios et al., 2022). Nonetheless, brands must be

careful to maintain trusting relationships with

consumers when utilizing this strategy. It is important

to avoid undermining the truthfulness and appeal of

UGC by over-commercializing it.

3 ETHICAL ISSUES OF UGC

COMMODITIZATION

3.1 Opaqueness of Implanted

Advertisements

One of the most prominent ethical issues in the

commoditization of UGC is the lack of transparency

Research on the Impact and Problems of Brand Hidden Marketing in Social Media Platforms

671

in advertising placements. This opaqueness stems

from the fact that UGC is often presented in a natural,

non-commercialized way, thus covering up the

commercial intent behind it. While this tactic

enhances the appeal and credibility of the content, it

could mislead consumers, who fail to realize that they

are being exposed to engineered advertising content

(Annabell et al., 2024). As this content type

continuously grows and consumers' perceptions of it

become clearer, homogenized or uninnovative

content provokes consumers to doubt its authenticity,

which can have a direct implication on the trust

relationship between brands and consumers. The

absence of transparency prevents consumers from

clearly distinguishing between advertisements and

personal recommendations, which can in turn lead to

unfavorable emotions toward the brand. Research has

shown that, for instance, sponsorship content that is

not indicated explicitly may be perceived as deceptive

by consumers, weakening their loyalty to the brand

(Florenthal, 2019). In addition, the ambiguous nature

of implanted advertisements may also raise concerns

from regulators, further exacerbating reputational risk

for brands. Even though some platforms now require

content authors to label or leverage artificial

intelligence (AI) to label potentially commercial

content, in many cases automated labeling can also

target the wrong audience, thus harming a portion of

original creators.

3.2 Challenges Associated with

Unpublished Partnerships

Undisclosed partnerships between brands and content

creators are another important ethical issue in the

commoditization of UGC. Such partnerships often

include monetary sponsorships, product giveaways,

or other forms of commercial transactions. However,

if they are not explicitly labeled in the published

content, they may raise consumer questions about the

authenticity of the content (Chung, et al., 2023).

The influence of hidden marketing on the

authenticity of UGC is mainly reflected in the erosion

of consumer trust. Undisclosed brand partnerships

lead consumers to be more inclined to suspect the

motives behind the content, thus creating distrust

toward the brand (Annabell et al., 2024). On social

media platforms, an influencer's image of authenticity

is an important factor in attracting followers, but

hidden collaborations can undermine this impression.

Studies have noted that when consumers realize that

content contains undisclosed business collaborations,

their credibility rating of the content significantly

decreases, and may even become disenchanted with

the influencer. This negative effect not only affects

the effectiveness of a single marketing campaign but

may also weaken a brand's credibility with its target

audience in the long run (Chung et al., 2023).

In addition, concealed marketing can also lead to

a decline in consumer trust in the platform. Social

media platforms play a role as content regulators

while promoting UGC distribution. When platforms

fail to effectively enforce their transparency policies

or allow the proliferation of hidden marketing,

consumers may be skeptical of the platform's fairness

and reliability. The study by Annabell, further

emphasizes that the design of platform policies and

interfaces is critical to the impact of blind marketing.

Several platforms indirectly contribute to the

prevalence of blind marketing by obscuring

commercial logos or not establishing disclosure

requirements, which both jeopardize the authenticity

of the content ecosystem and may cause consumers to

lose their reliance on the platform over time

(Annabell et al., 2024)

3.3 Ethical Responsibility for Brands

and Influencers

The authenticity of content is not only a vital element

of UGC in engaging consumers, but it is also the

foundation for building lasting trust relationships for

brands (Muda & Hamzah, 2021). Brands and

influencers need to use this strategy cautiously to

ensure that it does not violate the consumer's right to

be informed and the brand's ethical responsibility.

While the potential of hidden marketing lies in its

ability to naturally blend in with consumers' everyday

content, brands, and influencers need to be wary of

over-commercialization, which might create a sense

of deception for consumers. Ensuring that influencers

can express their experience of using authentically

and naturally. When the commercial motives behind

content are too subtle or inadvertently trigger

consumer distrust, both the brand's image and the

influencer's credibility can be damaged (Annabell et

al., 2024). Therefore, brands and influencers require

a high level of sensitivity to ensure that the content

itself still retains authenticity and emotional

connection, rather than being solely driven by

commercial benefits. Although this strategy can boost

short-term sales and brand exposure, it may still result

in a negative impact on the brand in the long run if

consumers are skeptical of its authenticity.

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4 STRATEGIES FOR

RESOLVING ETHICAL ISSUES

4.1 Enhance the Transparency of UGC

Promotional Contents

Firstly, brands and content creators need to

proactively disclose commercial partnerships, for

example, by labeling content clearly with the words

"sponsored" or "advertisement" to ensure that

consumers can easily identify commercial intent

(Muda & Hamzah, 2021). Research has shown that

such disclosure not only contributes to the credibility

of the content but also enhances consumers' trust in

the brand (Hanus, 2019). Furthermore, platforms

should also play a more active role in transparency

enhancement. For example, some social media

platforms have introduced built-in advertising

disclosure tools that require content creators to use

specific hashtags when posting content with brands.

Through these mechanisms, platforms can effectively

reduce misinformation issues arising from the

concealment of commercial intent, thereby providing

users with a more transparent consumption

environment.

4.2 Preferred Practices for Influencers

and Brands Disclosing Commercial

Intent

The success of brand-influencer partnerships depends

not only on creativity and attraction but also on

cultivating responsibility and ethical obligations on

both sides. In the context of implicit marketing,

marketing strategies should go beyond the choice of

"implicit" or "public disclosure" to promote trust by

enhancing consumers' perception and understanding

of the intent behind the marketing.

In the first step, influencers and brands can work

together more interactively and engagingly to

enhance the effectiveness of their marketing. For

example, influencers can invite fans to share their

opinions or experiences with a particular product by

launching prize-based interactions or quizzes. During

these interactions, influencers do not directly promote

products but rather encourage consumers to

participate in the brand's story through their means,

which not only improves fans' identification with the

content but also reinforces the authentic interaction

between the brand and consumers. This strategy can

help brands avoid the backlash caused by over-

commercialization while allowing consumers to

voluntarily participate and thus identify more with the

brand's values (Geng & Chen, 2021).

Secondly, brands and influencers need to

empower consumers to recognize hidden marketing

content through appropriate education and guidance.

The brand can, for instance, provide relevant ethical

training to influencers before the collaboration to

ensure that they follow certain ethical standards when

creating content and remind fans in appropriate

contexts that there is a commercial collaboration

behind this content. This type of education helps

influencers to be more conscious of the transparency

and authenticity of their content during the creation

process, preventing consumer dissatisfaction due to

information asymmetry. Meanwhile, consumers are

also able to gradually develop the ability to recognize

the content of advertisements in this way, avoiding

the crisis of trust caused by blind marketing (Vazquez

et al., 2020).

4.3 The Role of Platform Regulation in

Enhancing Accountability for UGC

Refinement of platform policies also plays a critical

role in the regulation of blind marketing content.

Platforms should take steps to make a reasonable

distinction between advertorial and non-advertorial

content and push brands and content creators to

follow norms in the creation process. In this regard,

platforms can adopt a more granular categorization

system that indicates which content is in partnership

with brands without directly imposing an advertising

label. For example, platforms can add a "partnership"

label underneath the content posted by influencers, so

that consumers know that there is a commercial

partnership behind the content without interrupting

the flow of the content. In this way, platforms not only

enhance consumer trust but also encourage more

standardized and transparent collaboration between

brands and influencers (Annabell et al., 2024).

Additionally, platforms should establish a

comprehensive user feedback mechanism to

encourage consumers to report UGC content

suspected of violating the law. By responding quickly

and strictly enforcing relevant policies, platforms can

protect consumers' rights and interests while

promoting the formation of good behavioral norms

among brands and content creators. For example,

some leading international social media platforms

have developed reporting tools and transparency

reporting systems that provide users with a

convenient way to monitor ad content (Muda &

Hamzah, 2021). Facebook and Instagram have

introduced "ad transparency" tools that allow users to

Research on the Impact and Problems of Brand Hidden Marketing in Social Media Platforms

673

View information about the publisher behind each ad

and the target audience for which the ad was placed.

When users believe an advertisement is misleading or

fails to disclose a business partnership, they can easily

file a complaint through the reporting tool provided

by the platforms, which will then review and address

the content. Meanwhile, the platform regularly

publishes transparency reports showing the scale of

advertising, target groups, and information about

advertisers, enabling the public to have a more

extensive understanding of how advertisements are

operated and how effective they are. Such

transparency not only helps consumers better

recognize the commercial nature of advertising

content but also motivates brands and advertisers to

comply with relevant regulations during the

marketing process, ensuring that marketing activities

are compliant and ethical.

5 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, UGC implicit marketing provides

brands with an innovative way to engage consumers

and shape brand image in the digital era. Its

authenticity and interactivity make it an efficient

promotional tool. On the other hand, the ethical and

transparency challenges of this strategy cannot be

ignored. By informing partnerships, giving

influencers more creative freedom, and optimizing

platform regulatory mechanisms, brands, and

relevant stakeholders can effectively enhance the

credibility of UGC advertising while reducing

consumer concerns. With the advancement of

technology and increased consumer demand for

authentic content in the future, brands will be required

to further investigate creative marketing approaches

to achieve their business goals yet maintain a trusting

relationship with consumers. This is the way forward

for brands and influencers to sustain their profile.

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