ASA Guidelines: Things You Need To Know

The ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) has recently released a new guide to help influencers understand when their posts are considered an ‘ad’ and how to disclose this correctly. While it’s written with an influencer’s perspective in mind, the guidance is also useful for brands and agencies.

So, if you’re a marketer, an influencer or a PR person, here are some of the important things you need to know about the new brand and influencer content rules.

 What counts as a payment or relationship?

If you have any kind of commercial relationship with a brand, this qualifies as ‘payment’. This includes:

·       being a brand ambassador

·       being a shareholder

·       being a director or having a position in the company

·       you are collaborating on your own ‘edit’ or ‘collection’

·       you are receiving an exclusive discount or a commission; or

·       you are given products, services, trips, hotel stays, event invites, loans, leases, rentals, or shares etc. for free (whether requested or unsolicited).

It doesn’t matter if there was no obligation to post about free items/services received, it still counts as ‘payment’ and needs to be disclosed.

When your content contains or directs people to a link or discount code that means you get paid for ‘clickthroughs’ or sales, it counts as advertising because it is ‘affiliate marketing’. This includes trackable links obtained directly through brand-owned affiliate programs, such as ‘Amazon Associates’, or through affiliate networks like ‘Awin’, ‘Skimlinks’ or ‘LTK’.

How to label an ad?

Considering the ASA’s research, it’s unlikely that labels other than those that explicitly call the content what it is, in a way that consumers understand, will be good enough.

Both the ASA and the CMA expect labels to just say it how it is, in a way that consumers understand e.g:

#Ad, #Advert, #Advertising, #Advertisement, #AdvertisementFeature

This applies to all types of marketing content, from a post about a gifted product all the way through to a brand collaboration.

It’s not necessary to use a ‘#’ as part of the label, provided it is prominent and clearly separate from any other content. You are also free to include further information about the type of ‘ad’.

Any label used needs to be understood by consumers and made immediately clear that the content is advertising. The below tags are not advised:

Supported by/ Funded by

In association with/ In partnership with

Thanks to [brand] for making this possible/ Made possible by

Just tagging the brand in the content

Gift/ Gifted

Sponsorship/ Sponsored/ Spon/ Sp

Affiliate/ Aff/ Af/ Afflink/ Collab

PR/ PRTrip/ PRTreatment/ PRHaul/ PR Stay

iworkwith/ brandambassador

myedit/ mycollection

How to present this?

Any label you use needs to be clear, prominent, upfront, timely, appropriate for the platform and format of the content (e.g., a post, a story, a reel), and suitable for all potential devices (it needs to be clear on mobile and apps too!).

This means that anything which obscures the label or delays the disclosure, such as burying it in a sea of hashtags; go against the guidelines.

What happens if an ad is not disclosed properly?

Failure to comply might result in further targeted sanctions such as ASA paid ad campaigns highlighting the influencer's continued non-compliance and onward referral to enforcement partners. 

*Information is taken from Influencers’ guide to making clear that ads are ads