In a press conference today, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs disclosed the celebrity and influencer endorsement know-how for social media platforms.
Ministry of Consumer Affairs announces endorsement know-how for celebrities and influencers on Social Media platforms in a Press Conference
The Central Consumer Protection Authority published guidelines for the prevention of fraudulent or misleading marketing and making endorsements in June 2022, and these know-hows fall within those recommendations.
Endorsement know-how come under guidelines for false and or misleading advertisements and making endorsements
According to a survey by influencer marketing platform Influencer.in and Social Beat, the Indian influencer market is expected to reach a value of Rs 2,200 crore by 2025 and expand at a CAGR of 25%. These recommendations seek to govern the field. The restriction will apply to influencers’ compensated advertising.
Interestingly, the limitations will apply to social media influencers, celebrities, and even virtual influencers, according to the guidelines. Influencers who violate the rules may be subject to a punishment of up to Rs 10 lakh, which may be increased to Rs 50 lakh, as well as a ban on future endorsements.
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What skills do the influencers have?
Influencers must reveal their endorsements to the audience if they have a material connection to the advertiser, in accordance with the rules that, by legal gambit, are a part of the Consumer Protection Act.
Here, “material connection” might refer to
• The influencer is getting paid for the promotion
• Free gifts, discounts etc
• Contests and Sweepstake entries
• Trips and hotel stays
• Media Barters
• Coverage and awards
• Any other personal, family or employment relationship
• Being a stakeholder in the company.
• How to disclose the endorsements?
• The Ministry in the press conference also clarified how to disclose the endorsements.
• The disclosure should be clear, hard to miss and should not be placed between many hashtags.
An influencer’s video endorsement of a product or brand on social media is a fantastic illustration of this. In this case, the influencer is required to include the brand’s logo in the video, a “paid promotion tag” in the description, as well as hashtags like #ad and #sponsored.
Influencers must use due diligence, which includes only reviewing and endorsing products that support claims made by advertisers. The rules said that “It has been requested that the product or service has been really tried or experienced by the advertiser.”
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