Michael Kors, Burberry First to Appear in Instagram Ads

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Above is a sample Instagram ad, which the company has published on its blog, so as to ease users into the advertising that will soon be hitting their feeds. The full program launches next week. Among the first brands that were allowed to buy ads were Macy's, Levi's, Michael Kors and perennial early adapters Burberry. Also, Ben & Jerry's, presumably because we're everyone's cool with looking at at ice cream all day. Each was deemed worthy because they "are already great members of the Instagram community."

Note that in the image above, ads are marked "Sponsored." Also, the ability to hide images will not be turned off, so users are allowed some modicum of control over their feeds. And Instagram reiterates: It's definitely not using people's pictures in ads so please don't hate us? Ads will be shown based on user's activity on Instagram and its parent company Facebook. The post explains that "this might include the people you follow and the photos and videos you like on Instagram, and your interests and other basic info on Facebook."
· A Look at Ads on Instagram [Instagram]
· Instagram Launches Ads But Dont Worry, They'll Be 'Beautiful' [Racked]