Do Gifted Products Need #ad? FTC Rules for Creator Campaigns

Yes. The Federal Trade Commission treats a free product as a "material connection" between a brand and a creator, so a creator who posts about something you sent them has to disclose it, even if no money changed hands. The FTC also expects the brand to tell creators how to disclose and to check that they actually do.

This piece is for brands based outside the US that are about to send products to American creators for the first time. It reflects the FTC's guidance as of 2026. It is general information, not legal advice, so take specific situations to a lawyer who handles US advertising law.

Does sending a free product count as advertising under FTC rules?

For disclosure purposes, yes. The FTC's guide for creators, Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers, says a creator needs to disclose any financial, employment, personal, or family relationship with a brand. It spells out that the financial kind includes a brand "giving you free or discounted products or services." Product seeding sits right inside that definition.

Plenty of teams assume the line is drawn at payment. The FTC asks something else: would viewers weigh the post differently if they knew about the relationship? Getting the product for free clears that bar, whether or not you asked for a post. Fees or commissions on top of the product call for plainer wording, covered below.

Being headquartered abroad doesn't change much. Disclosures 101 says U.S. law applies if it's reasonably foreseeable that a post will affect U.S. consumers. If your campaign is aimed at American shoppers, plan as though the FTC's guidance applies to you.

What changed in the FTC Endorsement Guides in 2023?

On June 29, 2023, the FTC announced updated Endorsement Guides (16 CFR Part 255), the first revision since 2009. Several of the changes bear directly on creator campaigns:

• The Guides now define "clear and conspicuous," and they state that a platform's built-in disclosure tool might not be an adequate disclosure.
• They explain in more detail when advertisers, endorsers, and intermediaries such as agencies can be liable.
• They address incentivized reviews and reviews written by employees.

The FTC also updated its companion FAQ, "FTC's Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking," adding 40 new questions. If your team reads one FTC document before launch, make it that one.

Where should creators put #ad, and what wording works?

The FTC's rule of thumb is that the disclosure belongs with the endorsement itself, where people will see it without hunting. Disclosures 101 warns that a disclosure is likely to be missed if it only appears on a profile page. For video, it says the disclosure should be in the video itself, since the description alone isn't enough, and that viewers are more likely to notice a disclosure made both out loud and on screen. In live streams, creators should repeat it periodically for people who join partway through.

The FAQ is blunter about TikTok. It says a disclosure in the text description is "very unlikely to be clear and conspicuous." That surprises many brands, because the caption is where most creators put their hashtags.

Two points from the FAQ are worth passing to creators almost word for word. "Gifted" on its own, without a brand name, is likely to be ambiguous. And "Gifted by XYZ" should be enough only when a free product is all the creator received. If you add money, a commission, or anything else, ask for #ad or an equivalent.

TikTok adds its own rule. Its Branded Content Policy counts a gifted product as branded content and requires creators to turn on the commercial content disclosure toggle. The same policy also tells creators to follow applicable laws, so the toggle doesn't replace the FTC's standard: a disclosure people will notice.

Is the brand responsible if a creator forgets to disclose?

It can be. The FTC FAQ says advertisers should have reasonable programs to train and monitor the creators in their network. It describes four parts: explain what creators can and can't say about the product, instruct them on disclosing their connection, periodically search for what they are posting, and take appropriate action when you find problems.

Hiring an agency doesn't take this off your plate. The FAQ says delegating part of your promotional program to an outside company doesn't relieve you of responsibility under the FTC Act, and intermediaries carry their own duty to train and monitor. Agree on who does what before the first box ships.

In practice, a seeding brief should settle these points:

1. The exact disclosure wording you want, with one example for the video and one for the caption.
2. One line asking creators to describe their own experience and avoid claims the product can't support.
3. Who checks posts after they go live, and how soon.
4. What happens when a disclosure is missing: a correction request, logged with the date and the result.
5. When a creator stops getting invitations because the problem keeps coming back.

On Collaboom, our team checks every post before it reaches the brand. In the FTC's eyes that doesn't replace your own program, so keep the disclosure instructions in your brief no matter who runs the campaign. If you're still deciding whether seeding fits your plan, start with what product seeding is.

How does the FTC fake review rule affect product seeding?

On August 14, 2024, the FTC announced a final rule on consumer reviews and testimonials (16 CFR Part 465). Its Q&A says the rule took effect on October 21, 2024, and that courts can impose civil penalties for knowing violations.

Among other things, the rule bans fake reviews (including AI-generated ones), paying for reviews that must be positive or negative, insider reviews without a clear disclosure, and buying fake followers or views when the buyer knew or should have known they were fake.

For seeding, the incentive clause is the one to remember. The Q&A says the rule doesn't prohibit incentives for reviews as long as there is no express or implied requirement that the review be positive or negative. It adds that failing to disclose the incentive could still violate the FTC Act, and that the rule applies to reviews on third-party platforms, not only on your own site.

That puts some phrases off limits in any brief. "Post only if you love it," "five stars please," and "we'll send more if it's positive" all tie the incentive to sentiment. Ask creators for honest videos, and keep requests for Amazon customer reviews or star ratings out of a seeding campaign entirely. We cover how creator videos reach Amazon product pages in Amazon creator videos.

Frequently asked questions

Does a creator have to disclose if they got the product but never posted?

If there is no post, there is nothing to disclose. If they mention the product months later, that post needs the disclosure, so give the instructions to everyone who receives a product.

Is #gifted enough for a seeding campaign?

Only when the creator received the product and nothing else, and only with your brand name attached, as in "Gifted by [Brand]." If there is a fee, commission, or other perk, ask for #ad or "Sponsored." Either way it should appear early in the caption and inside the video.

If we run a creator's video as a Spark Ad, who handles the disclosure?

The disclosure in the original post still has to be there, and the FTC FAQ places responsibility with the creator and the brand rather than the platform. Check the video before you put ad spend behind it. TikTok doesn't allow a post's caption to be edited once it has been authorized as an ad, so fix the wording first. Our piece on Spark Ads vs. usage rights covers the mechanics.

What should we do when we find a post with no disclosure?

Ask the creator to fix it, and keep a record of the request and the outcome. Following up on problems is part of the monitoring program the FTC FAQ describes. If the same creator keeps leaving it out, stop sending them product.

If you want to talk through how disclosure fits into a US seeding plan, you can reach us through our contact page.

Sources

• FTC, Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers
• FTC, FTC's Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking
• FTC press release, June 29, 2023: Federal Trade Commission Announces Updated Advertising Guides to Combat Deceptive Reviews and Endorsements
• FTC press release, August 14, 2024: Federal Trade Commission Announces Final Rule Banning Fake Reviews and Testimonials
• FTC, Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule: Questions and Answers
• TikTok, Branded Content Policy (as of 2026)
• TikTok Business Help Center, How to create Spark Ads for Manual and Search Campaigns (caption editing, as of 2026)