When is an ad an ad and when is it Just a piece of content?

Disclosure in influencer marketing is somewhat of a Pandora’s box and the Advertising Standards Authority’s (ASA) rules and regulations around disclosures offer a myriad of challenges.

The rules of subjectivity give influencers room for personal interpretation but show a lack of cultural understanding of the influencer world. This is forcing influencer content to label itself as an ad when the truth is it’s just a piece of content.

On the surface influencers disclosing ads can seem straightforward.

Let’s set the scene and assume a beauty brand connects with an influencer who is a true fan of their brand and pays them to promote their newest moisturiser. The beauty brand has a hand in how the content looks and feels, decides on its key messaging and when it is posted. Without doubt, this is an #AD and there’s certainly no grey area to contest.

However, when things start to get murky, in six months, if the brand launches a new lipstick shade and invites our influencer to a launch party as a known fan of the brand and not in a commercial capacity. What if that influencer then posted editorial content about the event to share a cool experience with their followers? Even though they’ve received no payment, the brand has no creative input, and the influencer has no obligations to post content, the ASA’s current guidance states that any content the influencer posts about the brand they’ve previously had a commercial relationship with should be labelled as an advert.

Is that fair, and could it be misleading for brands and audiences alike?

The ASA’s slightly Orwellian approach forces influencers to be hyper-transparent without creating better clarity for consumers.

For many influencers, there’s been a push towards creating more raw, relatable content and having to declare #ads they’re not paid can undermine their efforts to craft authentic personal brands.

In contrast, brands that have spent years and millions of pounds sculpting their brand personalities don’t want content that they had no say or no control over tagged with #ad. In a cruel, but sometimes funny, twist of fate, there has been a recent trend of influencers adding ads to brands they don’t have a commercial association to inflate their own brand. Social channels can be awash with tags such as: “Had a fun day out in the Bugatti #AD” and influencers can get away with it because the reality is that brands have no control cue.

The ASA is facing a huge challenge with a rapidly evolving landscape

In the pre-pandemic world, no one cared about TikTok. but the platform now has 23 million UK users. This rapid growth in users dwarfs TV’s and the internet’s decades-long journeys to reach those viewing-figure heights, and regulatory bodies like the ASA haven’t been able to keep up. Social media’s exponential growth and impact are outpacing their capabilities and understanding, and their response has been to create a blanket approach without being able to explore the very real nuances of the industry.

So what could the fix be?

Let’s start by giving consumers a bit more credit.

Consumers aren’t stupid. They understand when they’re looking at adverts placed amongst editorial content on social media, with research from the Global Web Index finding that 70 per cent of teens aged 16-19 can identify adverts on social media. Interestingly, in a report by Ofcom, they stated that 60 per cent of 15-18-year-olds recognised ads or product placements that were integrated into TV content, but only 55-60 per cent of 16-19-year-olds can tell the difference between editorial content and native advertising in magazines.

We need to shift how we view influencers

Influencers are modern-day publishers. They should, of course, be transparent about partnerships, but let’s apply the same standards across the board.

The vast majority of influencers want to do the right thing. They want to play by the rules and offer clarity to their audience. We’ve seen the birth of the #AD-PR hashtag with influencers trying to make things even clearer and when it comes to regulation, we should involve influencers and brands together to help self-determine the future of our industry.

A voluntary code of conduct

The ASA needs to update its playbook and recognise that social media and influencers are another platform/channel. They’re not a lawless frontier that we all need to be saved from, but they could be a big part of the solution.

Influencers, brands and regulators come together to create a code of conduct. This code of conduct could include stipulations like never intentionally misleading audiences and providing transparency in brand partnerships. This would help bring clarity and fairness and, with regular updates, the ASA could ensure the industry can keep up-to-speed with digital culture.

Influencers and brands that signed up for the code of conduct could display it like a profile badge. This could protect both brands and influencers from reputational damage while protecting consumers from misleading content.

By fostering a level playing field, and empowering influencers and brands to co-create clear guidelines, the ASA could create a more sustainable and trustworthy industry that looks towards the future.

Aaron King is the global influencer innovation director for McCann Content Studios