Influencers and digital ads: India issues guidelines

To safeguard the interests of consumers, influencers, marketers and the advertising industry, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has issued digital media advertising guidelines to make it mandatory for influencers to label the promotional content they post.

Why it matters

As digital media consumption becomes the norm, the distinction between content and promotional advertisements becomes critical. ASCI’s guidelines for influencer advertising on digital media will protect the Indian consumer’s right to know what content has been paid for by brands, thus bringing transparency to influencer marketing.

Key insights

• Influencer marketing has become mainstream and consumers not only buy products and services endorsed by influencers but also buy into the brand stories created.
• ASCI has shared the draft guidelines with the influencer community and received feedback from stakeholders that included agencies, industry associations and advertisers.
• ASCI will monitor potential violations using artificial intelligence to identify the lack of disclosure on social media posts, with machine learning algorithms helping to maximise accuracy.
• To develop an inclusive educational approach and shape the narrative of influencer advertising, the ASCI Social platform will be launched with information related to the guidelines.

Sourced from ASCI