HARRISBURG – Attorney General Michelle Henry joined 29 other state Attorneys General to reach a settlement with Baron, Inc., which operates as Cameo, for failing to ensure consumers knew that videos promoting products were paid endorsements purchased through their service.
The settlement requires Cameo to develop and maintain an extensive system to ensure compliance with all state consumer protection laws and federal endorsement disclosure requirements.
“Cameo is a way for Pennsylvanians and businesses to have personalized access to prominent figures, but consumers deserve to know when a video they’re seeing has been paid for,” Attorney General Henry said. “We take all violations of consumer protection laws seriously, and applaud Cameo for making necessary changes for a more transparent consumer experience.”
Cameo, a service that allows consumers to purchase personalized videos from celebrities and other prominent figures, launched Business Cameo aimed at allowing companies to pay celebrities to endorse their products.
The state’s investigation found that Cameo failed to implement measures to ensure the videos created through their service were properly disclosed as paid endorsements, which violated Federal Trade Commission regulations and Pennsylvania’s consumer protection laws.
It resulted in people seeing videos from celebrities who appeared to be posting positive reviews of products and services, without disclosing that they had been paid to make the video.
As part of the agreed settlement, Cameo will establish and maintain programs and policies to help ensure that its website and mobile application users comply with all applicable state and federal laws including the FTC’s Enforcement Guides. Cameo will implement a watermark system for paid advertisements; implement a system for legal disclosures and acknowledgements from all celebrities and consumers; monitor paid advertisements for compliance and establish reporting mechanisms for non-compliant Cameo videos.
Pennsylvania is joined in the multistate settlement by Attorneys General of Florida, Illinois, New York and Texas (which led the effort), as well as Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawai’i, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.
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