ASCI reports 700 violations by influencers

Several Bollywood actors including Ranveer Singh, Jacqueline Fernandez and Urvashi Rautela are among scores of Indian celebrities who flouted the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) 'Influencers Guidelines' while advertising for brands without disclosing properly that their social media posts are part of commercial agreements. Ranveer (Manyavar), Urvashi (Label-Renu Manjunath) and Jacqueline (Colorbar) are accused of passing the brand stories off as general posts without revealing that the posts were part of social media advertising, a report by ASCI stated.

The findings are part of the ASCI first-ever report in the influencer advertising segment which was released on Thursday. The report is based on suo motu screening of social media platforms as well as handling end-consumer complaints between July-Dec 2021.

Many star influencers are accused of placing the disclosure in such a way that is not easily visible to the audience. Inconsistency of disclosures was also noticed in cases where two or more brand stories were posted but disclosure was made only in one story.

According to the ASCI report, the influencers who violated the guidelines had partnered with top-notch brands like Manyavar, Nykaa, Myntra, Myblissclub, Malabar Gold & Diamonds, Elysiann Glorry, Art Hue, Trayog, JewelForHer, Myfitness Peanut Butter, Radisson Hotel and Vivo.

“We screened about 5,000 posts/stories/ feeds from influencer handles. Out of them, about 719 posts were considered to be prima facie violations of the guidelines. Of them, over 577 (80%) posts were voluntarily amended/ withdrawn by influencers, which is very encouraging,” the ASCI report says.

Out of the remaining 142 complaints, 121 were upheld by ASCI's Consumer Complaints Council and influencers were asked to withdraw or modify their posts. In all, ASCI recommendations received 86% compliance from Influencers.

Most violations were noticed in the fashion and lifestyle (29%), cosmetics (19%), personal care (12%), and e-commerce (13%) categories.

The report also lists Sonam Babani, Karishma Sakhrani, Faiz Baloch, Sholk Srivastava, Nidhi Agerwal, Ofelia, Kanika Mann, Sajid, Anaghaa Baghaare, Tashveen Sehgal, Akriti Rana, Shakti Singh Yadav, Shereen, Vaishali Thaniga, Kritika Khurana, Riya RK and Anushka Sen. Some including Babani and Shereen violated the guidelines many times, the ASCI report added.

The ASCI had launched the “Guidelines for Influencer Advertising in Digital Media” on 27th May 2021 to ensure transparency of branded promotions on social media by influencers. The guidelines came into effect from the 14th of June, 2021. ASCI also launched an online portal ASCI. Social for influencers and brands to familiarize themselves with the guidelines, and a tool to guide them towards being more responsible and transparent on their social media handles.