Author: Sunidhi Bansal
The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) released its draft guidelines for “Influencer advertising on digital media” in February, 2021. The main objective of the guidelines is to ensure that consumers should be able to distinguish when something is being promoted with an intention to influence their behaviour for an immediate or eventual commercial gain. Keeping that objective in mind the guidelines provide an updated definition of few terms and disclosure requirements.
A disclosure in the form of clarification that a piece of communication is an advertisement has to be made by the influencer or publishing account on which the advertisement is published, or the advertiser for whose brand the advertisement is. In the case of a brand using a virtual influencer, the onus of the disclosure is upon the advertiser.
The disclosure has to be of such nature that the consumer is able to recognise that something is an advertisement without having to click or interact with it. The guidelines restrict disclosure label options to #ad, #collab, #promo, #sponsored and #partnership. No other labels are allowed as the consumer may not be familiar with short forms or other words to connote advertisements. This list will be periodically reviewed to add any new labels that become popular or recognised by an average consumer as a way to connote promotional communication.
As per the guidelines, the disclosure label has to be upfront, must be in English or translated into the language of the advertisement, in a way that it is well understood by the average consumer, viewing the advertisement. Blanket disclosures in a profile or bio are not considered adequate as the visitor might read or watch individual video. In case of an advertisement of a picture or video not accompanied by a text post, the disclosure label should be superimposed on such video or picture. For videos that last 15 seconds or lesser, the disclosure label must stay for a minimum of 2 seconds. For videos longer than 15 seconds, but less than 2 minutes, the disclosure label stays for 1/3rd the length of the video. For videos which are 2 minutes or longer, the disclosure label must stay for the entire duration of the section. In live streams, the disclosure label should be placed periodically, for 5 seconds at the end of every minute so that users who see part of the stream can see the disclosure. In the case of audio media, the disclosure label must be clearly announced at the beginning and at the end of the audio.
Under the guidelines, the influencers are also required to exercise due diligence that the specific claim made in the advertisement is capable of scientific substantiation. The contract between the influencer and advertisement must also include clauses pertaining to disclosures, due diligence and use of filters.
In an event of consumer complaints concerning the violation of any guidelines or suo moto cognizance, the ASCI shall issue notice to brand owners and influencers.
The guidelines are open to feedback until March 21, 2021 and could be accessed here:
https://www.ascionline.org/images/pdf/guidelines-for-influencer-advertising-on-digital-media-draft-for-stakeholder-inputs.pdf. Based on the feedback and inputs, the final guidelines are slated to be issued by ASCI by March 31, 2021. The guidelines will be applicable to all promotional posts published on or after April 15, 2021.
Disclaimer: Views, opinions, interpretations are solely those of the author, not of the firm (ALG India Law Offices LLP) nor reflective thereof. Author submissions are not checked for plagiarism or any other aspect before being posted.
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