Over the past few years, we have seen influencer marketing pick up a lot of pace in our country. Now, it’s easily considered to be one of the mainstream advertising channels for countless brands. With regard to the swift increase of advertising and brand promotions in the digital media space, ASCI has released a fresh set of guidelines. The Advertising Standards Council Of India has issued a draft that all social media influencers should know about. It’s mainly issued to protect consumer interest and differentiate promotional content from independent content. So, here’s an overview of the new set of guidelines that an influencer and the consumer should be aware of as per Buzzincontent.com.

Draft guidelines for influencer advertising on social media

According to Mint, the main idea of this draft code is to thoroughly identify and label advertised content pieces as brand promotions. The ASCI guidelines were created in collaboration with various influencers and stakeholders in the digital space. It is open for public discussion, suggestions and feedback until 8th March 2021. The final set of guidelines will be released by 31st March and will be applicable on all promotional posts published on and after 15th April 2021.

Few guidelines from the ASCI draft that we found noteworthy

Social Media Advertising (Source: Shutterstock)
Social Media Advertising (Source: Shutterstock)

1. Disclosure labels

The disclosure label options that will help consumers distinguish between independent and branded content are #ad, #collab, #promo, #sponsored and #partnership. No other label will be used as consumers may not be familiar with them.

2. Upfront labelling

The disclosure label used to highlight branded content needs to be upfront. (within the first two lines of any platform) One shouldn’t have to click on ‘see more’ to check the labels out.

3. Removal of filters

The code also mentions that the influencer must not apply any filters in a branded post if it exaggerates the claim the brand is trying to make.

Social media filters (Source: Shutterstock)
Social media filters (Source: Shutterstock)

4. Specific labels for every social media platform

The draft is quite extensive and thorough as it has specified the nature of labelling for various digital platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and many more.

5. Audio content

In the case of audio content, the disclosure label must be announced at the beginning or the end of the audio.

(Source: Buzzincontent.com)

Influencer advertising is gaining a lot of momentum and we feel these new guidelines by the ASCI make it easier for consumers to spot branded content online. The aim is to make sure consumers don’t get misled and we are all for it. As woke citizens of the country, we must be aware of what’s taking place in the digital space, amirite?

Also, don’t forget to follow @missmalinitrending on Instagram to know more about your favourite influencers!