John Kim 
Instagram is a useful platform to connect with fellow sneakerheads and engage in some p2p sneaker buying/selling/trading. With the influx of sponsored ads tailored to your personal feeds, Instagram will now forcibly put unwarranted in front of your eyes. We’ve seen brands and even sneaker blogs appear under the Sponsored label, and while some are unaffected by it, there are some real dangers to “paid ads”. We stumbled upon this paid advertisement titled “Adidas Yeezy 350 $119” with a direct link to purchase shoes (seen below).
This is dangerous because the ad is obviously pushing counterfeit Yeezys, but to the countless people who aren’t well-versed sneakerheads, they are simply unable to discern what is fake or not. A lot of individuals will be scammed, but are they to blame when these appear as a sponsored ad? We suspect this isn’t the only instance of fake products on Instagram, and it’s only a matter of time before the social media giant feels the backlash. See the full ad below.
