The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) has published official guidance for the UK’s vloggers telling them to be clearer with their fans when advertising a product or service in their videos and social media content.
These new rules come in the wake of a ruling last year from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after a BBC Newsround investigation found that a number of British vloggers had been paid to take part in an ‘Oreo Lick Race’ ad campaign.
Videos by big name British YouTubers such as Phil Lester and Dan Howell, Thomas Ridgewell and Emma Blackery, were banned by the ASA, unimpressed they hadn’t made it obvious enough to viewers that they’d been paid by Oreo to promote the cookies.
According to the new guidelines, ‘If the content is controlled by the marketer, not the vlogger, and is written in exchange for payment (monetary payment or free items) then it is an advertisement feature and must be labelled as such.’
CAP outlines a number of scenarios where this applies, including sponsored content, product placement and vloggers’ videos about their own merch. In these cases the video must feature the word ‘ad’ or ‘advertising’, so it’s identifiable as advertising. But if a vlogger’s been given products for free without the brand having any input in the content, they don’t need to do this.
Some vloggers have complained about companies encouraging them to keep advertising deals secret. ‘Vloggers have come to us to say they have been put under pressure,’ Guy Parker, chief executive of the ASA told The Guardian. Their reputations are built on honesty and relatability, so there’s a lot at stake for them. The clarity can only be a good thing.
And it’s welcome news for fans. With the likes of Zoella reportedly earning more than £300,000 a year, it’s only fair that the zillions of viewers with the power to make or break their careers know the full story...
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.