McDonald’s, KFC and Guzman Y Gomez are the top three fast food brands engaging in influencer marketing in Australia, according to AI analytics platform HypeAuditor.
Under a proposed federal legislation, social media influencers will be banned from sharing “mukbangs” videos where they are sponsored by fast food giants to eat as much as they can on camera — and share the experience with their followers.
HypeAuditor analysed social media posts with #ad and #sponsored relating to fast food that were made by Australian Instagram influencers over the past five months (January - May).
Domino’s Australia, Pizza Hut AU and Subway Australia came in at fourth, fifth and sixth with Red Rooster, Zambrero, Hungry Jacks Australia and Oporto Australia rounding out the top 10.
These 10 brands generated a total of 981 sponsored social media posts from 653 Australian influencers, reaching almost 4 million people on Instagram.
Alex Frolov, CEO and co-founder of HypeAuditor said the analysis indicates fast food brands have jumped on the bandwagon of leveraging influencer marketing.
"While the proposed bill could be part of the solution to limit the exposure of young children to junk food on social media, the ban should be directed to the source rather than be imposed on influencers," he said.
"There should be a general influencer marketing ban on the fast food chains instead of putting too many limitations on content creators. The responsibility should be on the fast food giants to tighten their advertising on social media."
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