The final guidelines for influencer advertising on digital media have been unveiled by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI). The draft guidelines initially were issued in February and feedback from all stakeholders – advertisers, agencies, influencers and consumers – was sought. To ensure a collaborative process and expert inputs, ASCI tied up with Big Bang Social, a leading marketplace for social storytelling, to get India’s leading digital influencers’ views on board. The guidelines will be applicable to commercial messages or advertisements published on or after June 14, 2021. The guidelines make it mandatory for influencers to label the promotional content they post. ASCI received feedback from more than 25 different stakeholders over two months and took note of all feedback, concerns and suggestions.
Also, ASCI is aiming to develop an inclusive educational approach to shape the narrative of influencer advertising. To achieve this, ASCI is launching the ASCI.Social platform. Over time, ASCI.Social hopes to create a community of social media influencers, consumers, advertisers, and talent management agencies.
Chairman of ASCI, Subhash Kamath said, they received an overwhelming positive engagement and feedback from influencers and others for the draft guidelines, as well as suggestions to finetune and clarify some points. “After extensive discussions, we are now launching the final guidelines that balance the interests of consumer, influencers, agencies, advertisers and all other stakeholders”, he added.
