Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution releases a set of guidelines for celebrities, influencers and virtual influencers on social media platforms.

The
Department of Consumer Affairs, under the Ministry of Consumer Food and Public
Distribution recently released a set of guidelines for celebrities, influencers
and virtual influencers on social media platforms.
The
set of guidelines called the "Endorsement Know-hows!" aims to ensure
that individuals do not mislead their audiences when endorsing products or
services and that they are compliance with the Consumer Protection Act and any
associated rules or guidelines.
The
guidelines state that endorsements must be made in simple, clear language, and
terms such as “advertisement," “sponsored," “collaboration" or
“paid promotion" can be used.
Individuals
must not endorse any product or service that they have not personally used or
experienced or in which due diligence has not been done by them, the release
further stated.
The
Department said, it observed that there is confusion regarding which disclosure
word to use for what kind of partnership. Therefore, for paid or barter brand
endorsements, any of the following disclosures may be used:
“advertisement," “ad," “sponsored," “collaboration," or
“partnership." However, the term must be indicated as a hashtag or
headline text.
The
guidelines specify that individuals or groups who have access to an audience
and the power to affect their audiences‘ purchasing decisions or opinions about
a product, service, brand, or experience, because of the
influencer’s/celebrity’s authority, knowledge, position, or relationship with
their audience, must disclose.
The
guidelines state that the disclosure must be placed in the endorsement message
in a manner that is clear, prominent, and extremely hard to miss. Disclosures
should not be mixed with a group of hashtags or links.
It
cites examples of endorsements in a picture, where it said that disclosures
should be superimposed over the image enough for viewers to notice. Likewise,
for endorsements in a video or a live stream, disclosures should be made in
both audio and video format and displayed continuously and prominently during
the entire stream.
The
guidelines advise celebrities and influencers to always review and satisfy
themselves that the advertiser is in a position to substantiate the claims made
in the advertisement. It is also recommended that the product and service must
have been actually used or experienced by the endorser.
Lastly,
the press release stated that it is essential for celebrities, influencers, and
virtual influencers to adhere to these guidelines to maintain transparency and
authenticity with their audience.
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