Celeb influencers fail to comply with rule violation notices, ASCI to approach regulator

Last week, e4m reported how several Bollywood actors, including Ranveer Singh, Jacqueline Fernandez and Urvashi Rautela, have been flouting the 'Influencers Guidelines' while advertising for brands without disclosing properly that their social media posts were part of commercial agreements. 

It has now emerged that Ranveer Singh, Jacqueline Fernandez and Urvashi Rautela didn't comply with the ASCI notices despite being pointed out about the specific violations of influencers guidelines. 

Manisha Kapoor, Secretary General, ASCI confirmed that the trio defied the guidelines and even didn’t comply with the notices.

The ASCI now plans to escalate the matter to the “relevant government regulator” for further course of action. Being a self-regulatory body, ASCI is not able to take any penal action against brands or influencers. 

The regulator depends on the category of the advertisements. “The Department of Consumer Affairs is one such regulator,” says Kapoor. 

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, ASCI said in the report. 

“We received two consumer complaints against Ranveer Singh for violation of influencers guidelines. In one case, a change was made in the post after the brand and influencer heard from ASCI, and in another case, we have not received compliance,” Manisha Kapoor told e4m. 

She further told e4m, “There were two suo motu complaints against Urvashi Rautela. One complaint was not upheld by the Consumer Complaints Council, hence no changes were required. In another case, where the complaint was upheld, we did not receive any compliance from the brand or the influencer.”

There were two suo motu complaints against Jacqueline Fernandez. In one case, a change was made in the post after the brand and influencer heard from ASCI, and in another case, we have not received compliance, Kapoor said. 

ASCI had last week released its first social media influencers report which stated that more than 700 notices were served to influencers and brands for the violation of influencers guidelines and they were directed to take down the social media posts advertising the brands without saying so. Over 80 percent influencers and brands complied with the ASCI notices and deleted/modified their paid posts, the report said. 

As a matter of process, both the influencer and the brand were contacted by the complaints team from ASCI and asked to confirm whether the post in question is a paid promotion, and if so to disclose the same. Those who are on this list (more than 700) are cases where the brand and the influencer did not respond to queries or failed to provide evidence of the same being an organic post, Kapoor said. 

She added, “The ASCI guidelines are formed to protect consumers from deceptive or misleading advertising. Self-regulation forms the industry standard for what is responsible, transparent and honest advertising. In most cases, brands and influencers comply voluntarily in the interest of consumer protection. If they fail to do so, we escalate this to the relevant government regulators. This is a practice with all cases that are non-compliant with ASCI recommendations.” 

How should an influencer disclose about the ads?

ASCI has 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. 

The guidelines mandate that all advertisements published by social media influencers or their representatives must carry a disclosure label that clearly identifies it as an advertisement. 

The disclosure must be upfront and prominent so it cannot be missed by the average consumer. For more details, influencers and brands can check ASCI.Social/guidelines to get better acquainted with the guidelines.