Consumer watchdog group Truth in Advertising (TINA) said on Monday it served notices to seventeen high-profile celebrities for promoting NFTs without proper disclosure.
Tina says she sent letters to prominent figures promoting NFT on social media, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Eva Longoria, Floyd Mayweather, Tom Brady, DJ Khaled, Snoop Dogg and Paris Hilton.
Targeted NFT collections include Bored Ape Yacht Club, Women’s World and Autograph Collection.
The group says the letters remind celebrities they must explicitly disclose any physical connections with NFT companies, citing longstanding Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations.
Non-fungible tokens, better known as NFTs, are cryptographically unique tokens linked to digital (and sometimes physical) content, providing proof of ownership.
This isn’t the first time Tina has targeted celebrities for shilling NFTs. In June, TINA’s legal director Laura Smith sent letters to agencies representing Justin Bieber and Reese Witherspoon, claiming the pair engaged in deceptive marketing and undeclared support for the NXT collections Inbetweeners and World of Women, respectively. Is.
Other celebrities in the group sent letters to include Jimmy Fallon, Eminem, Logan Paul, Floyd Mayweather and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Some NFTs have become high-value or “blue chip” status symbols, with many celebrities changing their Twitter profile pictures to their favorite JPEGs or posting the images to their Instagram accounts.
According to DappRadar, in the first quarter of 2022, before the start of the bear market, the NFT market generated over $12 billion in trades.
“Most importantly, celebrities promoting NFTs generally aren’t helping to improve the financial literacy of their fans and followers,” Tina says. “And while some of these celebrities are able to take risks because of their vast wealth, many vulnerable consumers do not have that luxury.”