As Christmas approached, many users shared--or saw their friends share--posts from influencers offering incredible giveaways.
For example, The Bucket List Family, a family of five from Utah who travel the world, offered free trips to several lucky winners.
YouTuber David Dobrik gave away a free Tesla to the person who liked his photo and followed him and Team SeatGeek.
And the list goes on and on.
Instagram users, who follow influencers, are familiar with people offering products, trips or money in exchange for what appears to be a simple follow and like.
But, according to an intellectual property and contract law lawyer, it can be much more complicated than that.
Paige Marie Griffith, J.D., explained in a series of Instagram storiesthat giveaway entry requirements need to be clarified, citing The Bucket List Family's 12 Days of Bucket List Christmas as the most recent example.
Well they dont outright say in the post that 'liking and sharing' will get you entered to win [even though Ive already mentioned why its illegal advertising and they are clearly wording it in a certain way to be confusing and get people to share [aka deceptive business practices]]" Griffith posted on her Instagram story.
She continued: "...Then they go ahead and explicitly say in the a follow up comment that if you do share you WILL be entered to win.Which is a complete lie, because you have to do tons more to 'actually' be entered AND the giveaways are already over, because theyve chose the winners earlier this month. Im in disbelief. This is a total scam."
"I'm not trying to gain anything from this," Griffith wrote.
I was simply trying to educate others out there.
"They have not been fully transparent about their 'gifts' with their Instagram following," Griffith said in a statement to 2News. "Even if they did link rules early on and explain it to their past audience at the beginning of December, they gained hundreds of thousands of followers throughout the month [who] had no idea how to actually enter to win the trips."
These people assumed that liking and sharing was enough.
Griffith told 2News that the family should have explained, even in one post, to everyone how the giveaways "actually worked."
"Instead, they didn't and let people like and share and gained even more followers by deceiving the public," she said.
Griffith claims after her Instagram stories gained attention on social media, the family "changed their phrasing on their posts."
After hearing the allegations, many users expressed their disappointment on social media.
@dorothyjay, commented on one of the family's posts, "LOL 'all you need to do' but not really though, right? How about a little honesty for the holidays?"
@shalysewalker wrote, "@thebucketlistfamily you mean thats one of the 50 steps you didnt bother tell everyone about that they had to do to enter even though you had already picked the winners when you posted this?"
Even though Griffith says entering Instagram giveaways is much for complicated than a "like" and "share," The Bucket List Family says their giveaways are just that simple.
In an interview with People Magazine, the Bucket List Family clarified that each entry had specific requirements, which included following the family and any trip providers involved on Instagram, tagging them in your post, sharing it to your story and filling out a contact information or nomination form.
Garrett Gee, husband of Jessica and father of Dorthy,Manilla andCalihan, told People that picking the winner for giveaways is "one of my wife and I's very favorite things to do."
Thats really fun because then if we select them, then we have the person who nominated them and knows them kind of act as our accomplice, and they help us surprise them. Its honestly one of my wife and Is very favorite things to do its just the most special thing ever."
Gee spoke to 2News, saying the 12 Days of Bucket List Christmas is something very near and dear to his and his family's hearts. Jessica and him spend hours and tens of thousands of dollars of their own money to spread Christmas cheer.
Jessica puts all of her time, heart and soul into this charitable act... This is very near and dear to our hearts.
However, the recent allegations by Griffith put a dark cloud over the holiday gifting process.
"This year was tainted," Gee said, hoping they'll continue to holiday tradition despite this year's negativity.
Gee explained that their giveaways aren't like a regular Instagram giveaway that most users are accustomed to. "People are used to be being randomly selected," he said.
View this post on InstagramWhere in the world are you celebrating from? From our little family to you and yours, we wish you a very merry Christmas and happy holidays! ️
A post shared by The Bucket List Family [@thebucketlistfamily] on Dec 24, 2019 at 7:39am PST
Jessica spends hours and hours going through each application, and the couple also spends more time going through every single mention on Instagram, to make sure they find the "perfect family" for each trip. So, if you did share the family's posts on your Instagram story in hopes of winning an incredible trip, you had a shot at winning.
Addressing Griffith's accusations, Gee says she "jumped to conclusions" and that the whole thing was a "simple misunderstanding." In regards to the changed captions, Gee said they wanted to make it easier for people to enter to win.
This is a heartfelt gift in the spirit of Christmas
Some users were happy the family spread a little Christmas cheer.
@ryankala wrote, "We enjoyed following along the 12 days of Christmas surprises. Thank you for spreading joy and kindness this season and all year long. It is so fun to see the world through your eyes in your videos and posts! Wishing you all the best in 2020."
"Watching these reactions made me so happy! Thank you for sharing this joy with everyone!" @morewithmary commented.
On the family's last 12 Days of Bucket List Christmas giveaway post, they included the link to the officials rules and entry requirements.
In essence, The Bucket List Family puts a ton of work in so you don't have to.
But, not every Instagram giveaway is as simple to enter as the 12 Days of Bucket List Christmas.
So, ensure you're entry is valid, be sure to always read the terms and conditions, according to Easy Promos Blog.If there isn't a link to terms and conditions, that's "an instant red flag," Corinna Keefe, a content marketer at Easypromos, wrote.
The official guidelines for giveaways, published by Instagram, include the following: lawful operation of the promotion, compliance with rules and regulations, offer terms and eligibility requirements, avoid inaccurately tagging content or encourage users to inaccurately tag content [i.e. encouraging people to tag themselves in a photo theyre not in] and acknowledged the giveaway is not sponsored by Instagram.
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