paid promotion
/peɪd prəˈmoʊʃən/
Very CommonContent created or amplified in exchange for money, disclosed (or not) as a brand deal or ad.
Used both as a neutral descriptor and as an accusation. Saying 'this is a paid promotion' as a comment on someone's post usually means you think they are hiding it.
| # | Example | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | buried the paid promotion disclosure in the caption under a wall of text, classic | A creator technically disclosed the sponsorship but in a way designed to make it easy to miss. | x, 2024 |
| 02 | she acts like she loves this brand but it's 100% a paid promotion | The enthusiasm in the content is not genuine. It is a transaction being performed as authenticity. | reddit, 2024 |
| 03 | youtube added a paid promotion banner automatically now so creators can't hide it anymore | Describing a platform enforcement change that makes disclosure automatic rather than creator-controlled. | youtube, 2023 |
| 04 | every single video in my feed is a paid promotion disguised as a review | Frustration that organic recommendation content has been replaced by undisclosed advertising. | tiktok, 2024 |
Use it when
- A creator has disclosed that they were compensated to make a post.
- You suspect a post is an ad that has not been labeled as one.
- Discussing FTC disclosure rules or influencer transparency.
- A company paid to amplify a specific post or campaign.
Do not use it when
- You just mean a creator recommends something they personally like.
- You mean boosting a single post without a creator deal.Use “boost-post” instead.
Paid promotion vs boost post
paid promotion
Paid promotion usually means a creator was paid to make or feature content for a brand.
boost-post
Boost post is when someone pays the platform directly to show existing content to more people.
Origin and context
The term comes from broadcast media where paid placement was standard. Its current usage in online contexts reflects FTC regulations that required disclosure of sponsored digital content, which became standard practice around 2015-2017 as influencer marketing scaled.
- First seen
- pre-2010
- Confidence
- medium
Cite this page
Use this stable URL to reference the entry.
https://slang.fyi/paid-promotion