Looking to avoid getting embroiled in any scandals where young audiences feel lied to or cheated by their favourite EA sponsored streamer, the publishing giant has announced new rules for streamers and "influencers" it works with.
Although most streamers now will announce when they are working with a company for a video, there are plenty in the past who haven't. Whether it was promoting a game they were given for free, doing 'challenges' with certain sponsored food products, or just having items from that company around in the videos, sometimes people would just rather keep the relationship a secret. It might make them more money, but it looks bad on the company in question and the streamer.
EA doesn't want that to happen with any of its products, so now requires anyone who it is working with, who isn't using their own labelling system, to hashtag each video with #supportedbyea. In those cases, it is made clear that EA has no influence over content of the video and may merely have provided products or codes to the host.
In the case of #advertised tags being used though, EA may well have influenced the content. This way viewers can tell the difference between the different kinds of sponsorship and know for sure when they are watching what is essentially a live-read advert.
This announcement was initially made on EA's German Website, so may not apply globally just yet, but we would imagine that this is a scheme it will roll out everywhere before long. It makes sense to avoid any unnecessary scandals.
The last thing you want when paying someone to promote your brand is the net result to be negative.
