Instagram's First Ad Hits Feeds Amid Mixed Reviews

What's This?

By Kurt Wagner2013-11-01 19:03:18 UTC

Instagram's first ad hit feeds on Friday, offering the first official glimpse at what users can expect from advertisers moving forward.

The ad comes from fashion designer Michael Kors, and features a gold watch on the table next to delicate macarons. Instagram promised last week that ads were coming, and offered up a preview ad of its own to show users what to expect, but Friday's sponsored image is the first real ad to come across the platform.

See also: Poll: What Do You Think of Instagram Ads?

As of mid-morning on Friday, the ad had more than 25,000 Likes and more than 220 comments. Despite Instagram's heads-up last week (and another announcement earlier this month that ads were on the way), however, users took to the comments to voice their displeasure over the introduction of ads.

The ad has not appeared on all user feeds, however. Some Mashable employees who follow Kors on Instagram hadn't seen the image comes across their feed at time of writing.

An Instagram spokesperson confirmed that this was indeed the platform's first ad, but there is no specific time table for when other brands will join Kors or what brands we can expect to follow suit. (In Instagram's post last week, a sample Levi's ad was used as an example.)

While advertisers will most likely try to create ads that blend in naturally to a user's feed, you can tell which posts are advertisements by the "Sponsored" label where the time stamp usually sits in the upper righthand corner.

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Image: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images

Topics: Advertising, Business, Facebook, instagram, instagram ads, Marketing, michael kors