(AllHipHop News) Fans of DJ Khaled will witness a big change to his social media accounts moving forward.
The world famous DJ was the subject of an investigation conducted by truthinadvertising.org (TINA), which analyzed his social media accounts from June 2017 to March 2018.
According to the study, DJ Khaled posted alcohol ads for Diageo’s Cîroc Vodka, Bacardi’s D’Ussé cognac, and Sovereign Brands’ Belaire sparkling wine and Bumbu rum more than 300 times on Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
The findings prompted a number of nonprofit agencies including Mothers Against Drunk Driving, to send DJ Khaled the letter blasting his blatant promotion of alcohol to millions of underaged fans through his social media.
The organizations shot DJ Khaled a threatening letter accusing him of violating Federal advertising laws for overtly promoting the products, and covertly marketing the brands through product placement, without properly disclosing his connection to the brands.
DJ Khaled apparently got the message, and he had scaled back his rampant promotion of alcohol on social media.
“DJ Khaled has done the right thing by disclosing his material connection to these alcohol brands,” said TINA.org Executive Director Bonnie Patten. “Time will tell if he is truly committed to ensuring that his followers are not misled by deceptive ads on his social media accounts. As for the alcohol companies, their failure to make certain that DJ Khaled complied with FTC law is absolutely inexcusable.”
The clampdown comes months after Cîroc’s co-owner Diageo announced that it was suspending all of its advertising on Snapchat due to concerns about age verification safeguards.
“Overexposure to alcohol advertising is a driver of underage drinking, and it’s all the worse when it flies under the radar on social media platforms popular with youth, like Snapchat. These alcohol producers who are exploiting DJ Khaled’s popularity with young people need to stop this practice immediately and permanently, and Mr. Khaled should stop being an instrument of this exploitive marketing,” snapped Diane Riibe, Executive Director of the U.S. Alcohol Policy Alliance.