New Delhi: The Department of Consumer Affairs, under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, has released a set of guidelines for celebrities, influencers and virtual influencers on social media platforms to ensure individuals don’t mislead their audiences while endorsing products or services and that they are in compliance with the Consumer Protection Act and any associated rules or guidelines.
The guidelines called ‘Endorsements Know-hows!’ state that endorsements must be made in simple, clear language, and terms such as ‘advertisement’, ‘sponsored’, ‘collaboration’ or ‘paid promotion’ can be used.
Individuals should only endorse a product or service that they have personally used or experienced or in which due diligence has been done by them.
The Department of Consumer Affairs has observed that there is confusion regarding which disclosure word to use for what kind of partnership. Hence, for paid or barter brand endorsement, any of the following disclosures may be used – ‘advertisement’, ‘ad’, ‘sponsored’, ‘collaboration’, or ‘partnership’. However, the term must be indicated as hashtag or headline text.
The guidelines specify that individuals or groups who have access to an audience and the power to affect their 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 make it clear that 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.
For endorsements in a picture, disclosures should be superimposed over the image clearly enough for viewers to notice. For endorsements in a video or a live stream, disclosures should be made in audio and video formats, and displayed continuously and prominently during the entire stream.
Celebrities and influencers are advised to always review and satisfy themselves that the advertiser is in a position to substantiate the claims made in the advertisement.
