{"id":85031,"date":"2026-09-02T11:01:42","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T15:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/isarta.com\/news\/?p=85031"},"modified":"2026-09-29T06:06:56","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T10:06:56","slug":"how-to-make-influencer-marketing-more-responsible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/isarta.com\/news\/how-to-make-influencer-marketing-more-responsible\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Make Influencer Marketing More Responsible"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

France\u2019s Agency for Ecological Transition (ADEME) published a free guide<\/a> on responsible influencer marketing last April. It offers a valuable toolkit not only for French creators and brands, but also for those elsewhere looking to build more ethical and sustainable commercial partnerships.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In France, 84% of 15- to 24-year-olds follow at least one influencer. That close relationship is still used primarily to promote lifestyles that are difficult to reconcile with planetary boundaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Guide to Responsible Influence<\/em>, co-authored by Val\u00e9rie Martin, head of ADEME\u2019s Citizen and Media Engagement department, and Am\u00e9lie Deloche, co-founder of the Paye ton influence collective, starts from this observation before turning, in its final section, to concrete ways of changing course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cIn a rapidly changing world, the influencer industry faces a major challenge: supporting the ecological transition and playing an active role in raising awareness, educating and mobilizing communities around more sustainable practices,\u201d says Am\u00e9lie Deloche.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Here are some of the guide\u2019s key recommendations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Do Your Homework Before Signing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The first recommended step is to build a profile of the advertiser before agreeing to any partnership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who owns the company? What is its legal status and industry? Is it affiliated with a lobbying organization? Has it been involved in past controversies? Which creators has it worked with before?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of these factors deserve scrutiny. So do the organization\u2019s social and environmental impacts, including those associated with the product\u2019s entire life cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The guide provides a ready-to-send questionnaire that creators can email to brands. It also recommends including a withdrawal clause<\/strong> in contracts in case relevant information has been concealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is far from a theoretical exercise. The guide recalls an experiment conducted by YouTuber Simon Puech, who created a fake dietary supplement containing a known deadly poison. Most of the influencers and several agencies approached as potential partners agreed to the collaboration without checking the product\u2019s ingredients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lesson is simple: due diligence matters.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Five Red Flags for Greenwashing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The guide breaks down the risk of greenwashing into five areas:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Data<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Claims<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Visuals<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Storytelling<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Activations<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The examples are striking precisely because they seem so ordinary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In one case, creators were invited to test an electric vehicle on a frozen lake. In another, an influencer combined a beach cleanup with a promotional discount code at a shopping mall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In both cases, the disconnect between the environmental message and the commercial context is enough to turn an otherwise well-intentioned campaign into greenwashing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    3. From Assessment to Action Plan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    The next step is introspection. The guide suggests that creators ask themselves questions such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • Which industries account for most of my brand partnerships?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Have I ever turned down a partnership for ethical reasons?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Do my posts promote lifestyles with a high environmental footprint?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      The guide encourages creators to measure their personal carbon footprint, while agencies are urged to examine their CSR policies and the training provided to their teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The transition is deliberately incremental. Suggested actions include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      • Stop documenting every plane trip.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Avoid promoting micro-trends.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Take on fewer partnerships, but choose them more carefully.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        To make the approach sustainable over the long term, the authors recommend establishing an ethical charter<\/strong>, supported by measurable targets. These could include cutting partnerships with high-impact brands by half, aiming for 50% non-commercial content, producing two pro bono pieces of content per year, and publishing an annual impact report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        The Business Model Remains the Biggest Challenge<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

        There is, however, one fundamental issue that the guide only briefly addresses: the business model itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Nearly 90% of creators\u2019 income comes from advertising, Am\u00e9lie Deloche points out in an interview with SocialRama<\/em>. She describes responsible influence as a \u201cconstant battle\u201d and notes that environmental awareness has clearly taken a step backward in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Long-haul press trips and fast fashion have returned to influencer partnerships without necessarily triggering controversy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        The toolkit is ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Adoption, however, still has a long way to go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        France\u2019s Agency for Ecological Transition (ADEME) published a free guide on responsible influencer marketing last April. It offers a valuable toolkit not only for French creators and brands, but also for those elsewhere looking to build more ethical and sustainable commercial partnerships.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":85034,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/isarta.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85031"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/isarta.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/isarta.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isarta.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isarta.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85031"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/isarta.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85035,"href":"https:\/\/isarta.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85031\/revisions\/85035"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isarta.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/isarta.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isarta.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isarta.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}