words // Nick DePaula:
When Instagram first launched its in-feed ads, the spin was that Kevin Systrom, the company’s CEO, was personally reviewing and providing feedback to each brand partner before an ad was pushed live onto its base of around 400 million users.
Since that first wave of careful consideration, and in the interest of explosive profits, Instagram has pretty much removed all of the initial quality barriers to advertising on the app.
There are incredibly low restraints now to running an ad for your fledgling company, whether you’re a smaller, distinctly fake knockoff sneaker brand or a major corporate brand with a really bad campaign to push.
For the sneaker community, the targeted ads you may have seen lately are peddling an endless amount of fake sneakers. Mostly Air Maxes and Yeezys. The below Air Max page actually takes you to this terribly fake site, and hopefully you know better than to expect to be able to cop the adidas Yeezy Boost 350 on a “big promotion” for up to 90% off.
On that note, please beware of “sponsored” ads on Instagram, and share the word with your less savvy friends, as almost every sneaker ad is pushing a fake shoe at a deep discount.
