Labels are good, aren’t they? Especially when they are meant to create awareness. The Advertising Standards Council of India seems to agree with it and has published a draft of guidelines with respect to influencer marketing on various platforms for brands and for influencers. 

ASCI, established in 1985 is a self-regulatory, non-governmental organization that aims to regulate advertising to ensure the interests of consumers. The draft that was released a few days by ASCI is aimed to create a healthy ecosystem for digital advertisement. With the growing market and the bright future of influencer marketing ahead of us, these guidelines are to ensure the rights of consumers. 

In today’s time, we see a lot of brands creating successful influence marketing strategies and the emergence of different types of influencers is even harder to miss. With this increase, there will also be an increase in the number of influencer marketing campaigns, which means there will be an increase in the number of digital advertisements. There are chances that the consumers might soon start finding it difficult to distinguish between content and advertisements. But the new guidelines by ASCI aim to focus on highlighting this distinguishment so that the consumers can make a thoughtful decision.

We see influencers posting videos, stories, doing posts, in which they are advocating certain brands or products that they claim to have used and have found to be useful. But it is not always possible to tell if this a part of their content or sponsored advertisements unless they mention the same. Yes, we do see a lot of influencers clarifying it and they put in the hard work to create quality content based on integrity, but consumers may still get confused about their choices. 

When you follow an influencer for a long time, you are familiar with their style of work and content, But since the digital world is evolving, their work and content are bound to evolve with it too. To understand the guideline by ASCI, let’s get into the basics first. 

What is advertising? 

Advertising is a form of marketing communication that is directed towards openly sponsoring or promoting a product, service, or idea to a certain audience. 

What is content? 

Content is a piece of information or an experience that is shared by one individual or a group to an audience or user through different mediums. 

The definitions themselves make it clear to understand the difference between advertising and content. And the guidelines by ASCI are focused on streamlining these entities and offer a better direction to digital advertising and influencer marketing in particular. But what does the ASCI draft cover? Here’s all that you need to know.

We have understood that the guidelines make it mandatory for the influencers to add the label for advertising products on their platforms. 

What are the disclosure labels? 

The disclosure labels that the brands can use #ad, #collab #promo #sponsored #partnership. No other labels or short forms will qualify as disclosures. The guidelines also state that in the coming time we can expect some more labels as social media marketing and influencer marketing undergo more changes. 

But how will the disclosure work?

The disclosure needs to be upfront for the viewers, users, or consumers to realize it is an advertisement. The disclosure is applied to all forms of digital content like video, audio, text, live streams, stories on Instagram and Snapchat. 

When we say that the disclosure needs to be upfront, meaning, it has to be mentioned in the first two lines of the post. The consumer should not have to scroll through the post, or swipe, or head to the bio, about us section, click on any other link or even click on options like ‘see more’ to find out that it is a sponsored post. 

In the case of video content that is not accompanied by a text post, the disclosure label should be mentioned on the video in a way that is easily visible to the viewer. 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 that are 2 minutes or longer, the disclosure label must stay for the entire duration of the section in which the promoted brand or its features, benefits, etc are mentioned. 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

There is another interesting point mentioned in the guidelines that suggest that filters should be avoided in cases of certain advertisements. Exaggerated glorification or modification of the products or their results is not permitted. For instance, adding filters to change skin tones, or make teeth brighter, or make hair shinier are not appropriate. 

ASCI also ensures that in case of violation the users can submit their complaints and an issue will be noticed against the brand and the influencer. 

Why are these guidelines necessary?

The guidelines are needed so that brands and influencers are responsible for their advertisements. Being transparent to the consumers lies at the core of influencer marketing. To adhere to these guidelines is the responsibility of both the brands and the influencers. There has been an immense impact of influencer marketing on the consumers and it is going to continue. Hence, safety regulation is necessary to ensure that the consumers are making the right purchasing decisions. 

The draft also focuses on many specifications like different disclosure guidelines for different platforms. 

The guidelines are still just a draft and are open for feedback till 8th March 2021. In case, if you have any feedback to share, you can mail it to ASCI at hilda@ascionline.org 

ASCI will release the final guidelines by 31st March, based on the feedback and inputs received. The guidelines will be in force for all promotional posts from 15th April 2021.

Experts claim that these changes will affect all three entities of influencer marketing- brands, influencers as well as consumers. There could be changes in the way we perceive advertising and how it is presented to us. But looking at the growth of influencer marketing, it is safe to say that this is a glimpse of another evolution that digital marketing will undergo.