The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has extended till March 21,2021 the deadline to receive feedback from stakeholders on the draft influencers’ guidelines.

The guidelines were earlier supposed to have come into effect from mid-April 2021.

To enable consumers to easily recognize promotional content on digital platforms, ASCI released over a week back draft guidelines for influencer advertising on digital media.

The proposed guidelines seek to remove the blurring of lines between personal posts by influencers and those that are sponsored or advertisements or are commercial in nature.

In keeping with the changing marketing paradigm, ASCI said it has closely followed advertising content on digital platforms.

Last September, it associated with TAM Media Research to monitor more than 3,000 digital platforms for misleading marketing messages. With the new guidelines, ASCI proposes to assist consumers, brands and content creators to ensure all stakeholders’ interests are preserved through a self- regulatory approach.