Social Media Influences Should Add Proper Disclosure Labels to Promotional Content, ASCI Guidance Authority

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has released new powerful marketing guidelines on digital communication forums such as Instagram.

The new guidelines suggest that all promotional content published by social media or their representatives should carry an explicit label that clearly identifies them as advertisements.

In addition, it urges promoters to take appropriate action regarding the products or services they promote through their accounts.

The ASCI states that “it is important for consumers to be able to distinguish when something is being promoted with the intention of influencing their vision or behavior in order to make a profit sooner or later.”

The new guidelines are reportedly set to take effect on June 14, and make it mandatory for influencers to label their content appropriately to help consumers understand whether it’s an ad or not.

ASCI emphasizes early and well-known disclosures that the average consumer will not miss and should not leave room for misunderstandings.

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In addition to these activities, ASCI tells influencers to review and satisfy the product before advertising it to viewers. The draft guidelines were first issued in February.

ASCI details that promoters need to add disclosure of their posts only if there is a physical contact with the advertiser.

These communications include monetary compensation, freebies, or any other concessions negotiated between the two. He adds, “If there is no meaningful communication with the promoter telling people about a product or service they have bought and like, that is not considered an advertisement and there is no need for such disclosure of such posts.”

Facilitators have been asked to put this disclosure in a way that is not easily missed.

They should not be buried in a group of hashtags or links and promoters should use the exposure tools provided by the platform in addition to other methods.

If ads or videos are posted on Instagram or Snapchat news, then this should have a disclosure label placed above the content.

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Disclosure labels such as ads, advertisements, sponsorships, partnerships, partnerships, partnerships, work, and free gift may be used.

For videos that last 15 seconds or less, the exposure label should last at least 3 seconds.

For videos lasting two minutes or more, the disclosure label should remain for the entire duration of the stage where the promotional product or its features and benefits are specified.

Lastly, for videos longer than 15 seconds, but less than 2 minutes, the exposure label should remain one third of the video length.

In the case of audio media, such as podcasts, disclosures should be clearly announced at the beginning and end of the audio, and before and after each intermission.

In live broadcasts, the disclosure label should be announced at the beginning and end of the broadcast.

If the post continues to appear after the end of the live stream, the appropriate disclosure should be added to the text / captions.

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