This Is What Instagram Ads Look Like

Instagram has just released the first image of an Instagram ad.

Last month the company announced Sponsored Photos and Sponsored Videos would begin appearing in people’s feeds from brands they don’t follow, promising something beautiful and engaging.

This “sneak peek” is a picture of a guy at a desk. So what do you think?

The ads will be labeled “Sponsored” and have a button to hide them. If you tap the three dots ‘more’ button (…), an ad will be hidden and you can provide feedback on why you didn’t like it, or choose to opt out of that particular ad.

The sample ad comes from Instagram itself, and it will be the first ad that many Instagram users in the US will see.

As was promised, Instagram says that only a handful of brands will be allowed to advertise on the platform (in the beginning), all of which will be familiar to existing users on the platform.

Here’s the official word from the blog:

Our focus with every product we build is to make Instagram a place where people come to connect and be inspired. Building Instagram as a business will help us better serve the global-and ever growing-Instagram community, while maintaining the simplicity you know and love.

Instagram also reminds users that we own and have control over our Instagram photos, a question that was hotly debated when Instagram changed its TOS to allow for ads made from user-generated content. After an uprising, that decision was reversed.

Users have been less vocal about the introduction of ads this time around, now that it doesn’t involve our faces (Google style), but that may change once ads actually begin appearing in the feed.

You can see a slew of Instagram ad examples below from premier brands including Levi’s, W Hotels, Michael Kors, Macy’s, and Lexus, as well as some less fashionable companies like PayPal and Ben & Jerry’s.