A lot happens in Advertising & Marketing every day, every week, every month; campaigns which move hearts and metrics, news and trends which set the mood of the nation, platform updates which change the course of Advertising now and then.
In an industry where change is the only constant, keeping pace can be overwhelming. Social Samosa’s podcast The Quick Call features Hitesh Rajwani, CEO of Social Samosa Network, in conversation with industry leaders and practitioners who help break down the latest developments in the Advertising & Marketing world and what they mean for you.
In this episode, Hitesh gets into a conversation with Manisha Kapoor, CEO and Secretary General of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) addressing an increasing number of promotional content on LinkedIn. However, in the past week, over 56 cases have been processed for violations, primarily due to non-disclosure of material connections. These non-disclosures potentially breach the ASCI Code, the Guidelines for Influencers in Digital Media, and the Central Consumer Protection Authority’s (CCPA) Guidelines.
In response, ASCI has issued an advisory for LinkedIn influencers, urging compliance with guidelines requiring disclosure of material connections with brands, services or advertisers they promote.
Manisha shares that several professionals have even taken it upon themselves to raise awareness about this issue and ASCI believed it was the right time to issue a reminder. The advisory reinforces the 2021 guidelines introduced for social media influencers, which are media-agnostic and apply to influencers across all platforms.
“People on LinkedIn may not realise that they're also creating content on behalf of a brand and it's not fair to consumers or readers to not disclose that they have a material connection with the organisation they're talking about. These disclosures ideally need to be mentioned as you start writing, not embedded or buried in a bunch of other hashtags that you're using,” notes Manisha.
She divulges how ASCI enforces guidelines on influencers and also explores the authority’s proactive measures to educate influencers. These measures offer influencers the tools to align their content with regulatory guidelines and enhance their credibility.
This episode of ‘The Quick Call’ provides valuable insights into the evolving landscape of influencer marketing and measures taken by ASCI to foster a transparent advertising ecosystem.