Brand Under Fire for Copying Creator's Content

Is Biden Taking Over TikTok?

No, that isn’t a typo. President Biden is leveraging TikTok in his reelection campaign.

According to a Politico article, Priorities USA, a PAC supporting President Joe Biden’s reelection, has hired content creators to encourage people to vote.

This isn’t necessarily new. Other PACs ran paid influencer campaigns in the previous elections. But this time around, TikTok is significantly more mainstream (in comparison to the 2020 election).

That said, it’s a bit complicated. There aren’t many federal regulations around campaign advertising on social media. Each platform gets to choose how they handle it. TikTok, for example, has banned political advertisements completely — shocker. Instagram, on the other hand, just requires the political group sponsoring the post to register in their ad library.

According to the Politico report, Priorities USA will spend roughly $1 million on influencer marketing for the 2024 election cycle. This is comparable to the Trump-supporting PAC that spent over $1 million on influencer marketing during his 2020 presidential campaign.

Cetaphil Accused of Copying a Creator’s Video

If you watched the Superbowl, you might’ve noticed this Cetaphil ad. After it aired, TikTok creator Sharon Mbabazi shared a playful video to address what several others noticed — Cetaphil’s ad looked suspiciously similar to her content with her stepfather.

Since then, Cetaphil released a statement claiming they came up with the concept without ever seeing Sharon’s videos. They said it was born out of a broader trend of dads and daughters bonding over football this year amidst the Travis Kelce and Taylor swift romance.

Sharon has now been hired to create content for Cetaphil and seems happy with how they’ve responded. What do you think? Is it plagiarism?

A New TikTok-Inspired Food Company

Virtual Dining Concepts, the firm responsible for the MrBeast Burger and FaZe Subs, just launched Creators’ Kitchen. This new concept will offer customers in hundreds of markets across the US the opportunity to try TikTok-viral foods.

For now, the menu features foods like the viral chopped Italian sandwich, fried lasagna, and the classic baked feta pasta. The menu will rotate to highlight several viral creations.

Quick Links

🎥 TikTok experiments with paid Sub Spaces.

💸 How to make $100k from affiliate links.

🍬 Ryan Trahan launches new candy line.

📈 Nike partners with streamer and YouTuber Kai Cenat.

Quick Financial Reminder

You can still make 2023 retirement contributions in most retirement accounts until April 15th, 2024. Contributions can be tax-deductible (a.k.a. lower your tax bill), so you might want to chuck some more cash into your accounts if you have it. As always, check with your CPA directly for advice on your specific situation.

See ya next week,

Karat