The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) on Thursday, 27 May, issued the final guidelines for influencer advertising on digital media.

The draft guidelines initially were issued in February and take the feedback from the stakeholders- advertisers, agencies, influencers, and consumers.

ASCI also tied up with Big Bang Social, which is a leading marketplace social storytelling, to get India’s leading digital influencers’ views on board.

The guidelines will apply to the commercial messages or advertisements published on or after June 14, 2021.

These guidelines were mandatory for the influencers to label the promotional content which they post on digital media.

The digi0tal media becomes the norm for the influencers who make the content and promotional advertisements their big critique, which makes the marketing the mainstream.

However, the consumers have the right to know about the content which is being paid for some brands which make the new guidelines for the influencers. Since ‘Influence equals to action’ is a reality now – consumers not only buy products and services endorsed by influencers, but they also share their brand stories on their social media platforms. Thus, these guidelines safeguard the interests of consumers, influencers, marketers, and the advertising industry.

In a virtual event held on Thursday, 27 May, the new guidelines were issued for the influencer community and some other stakeholders. As they received feedback from more than 25 stakeholders over two months, even some of them were also included with the industry associations like IAMAI, IBHA, advertisers like PepsiCo, P&G, Nestle, HUL, Tata, and Star.

They also received comments from the volunteers from the consumer organizations. Some of the top-rated influencers of the digital media like Dolly Singh, Vishnu Kaushal, Ayesha Billimoria, Aanam C, Scherezade Shroff Talwar aka Sherry Shroff, Raghav Meattle, Varun Duggirala, and more.

Subhash Kamath, Chairman, ASCI, said: “We received an overwhelming positive engagement and feedback from influencers and others for the draft guidelines, as well as suggestions to finetune and clarify some points. After extensive discussions, we are now launching the final guidelines that balance the interests of consumers, influencers, agencies, advertisers, and all other stakeholders. I urge everyone to follow the ASCI Code and the guidelines and be part of this change promising transparency and responsibility.”