Mediaboss Marketing

Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution

Department acknowledges the significant role of influencers in shaping consumer opinions, emphasizing the need for transparency, integrity, and professionalism

Endorsement Guidelines require clear, prominent, and hard-to-miss disclosures for endorsements, including terms like "advertisement," "sponsored," "collaboration," or "paid promotion."

Endorsement guidelines address the rapidly growing digital world, with advertisements extending beyond traditional media, making consumers vulnerable to misleading ads

Influencers & Celebrities must only endorse products or services they have personally used or experienced and conducted due diligence on

Development of a model draft agreement between influencers and brands is required

Influencer & Creator Empowerment is a top focus of the Department of Consumer Affairs

Department of Consumer Affairs aims to work closely with influencers, content creators, and agencies to foster a responsible and sustainable industry

Department plans to collaborate with creators, influencers, influencer marketing companies and industry to develop educational resources to make the influencers and creators aware about Dos and Donts

Dialogue was welcomed by creators, influencers, agencies, and the industry, who acknowledged the significant contribution of influencer marketing to the country's GDP

The round table discussion marked a significant step toward fostering a transparent and responsible influencer marketing industry, ensuring consumer protection and empowering creators and influencers in their endeavors

Posted On: 19 APR 2023 6:48PM by PIB Mumbai

Mumbai : 19 April 2023

Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India, organized a round table discussion with influencers, content creators, and their agencies on the recently released guidelines for celebrities, influencers, and virtual influencers on social media platforms. The guidelines, titled "Endorsements Know-hows!", aim to ensure that individuals do not mislead their audiences when endorsing products or services and that they are in compliance with the Consumer Protection Act and any associated rules or guidelines. The roundtable discussion took place on April 19, 2023, at 10:30 AM at Mumbai.

The roundtable was chaired by Sh. Rohit Kumar Singh, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, Govt of India, who emphasized the importance of education for influencers and creators regarding laws and regulations. He also reassured attendees that the government does not intend to stifle creativity and the industry but to protect consumer interests without hindering creativity and business. Sh. Singh suggested the formation of a self-regulatory organization for influencer marketing companies and the development of a creator or influencer recognition program in collaboration with the industry.

Sh. Singh also exploring partnerships with industry, and influencer marketing companies to develop and disseminate resources, such as the guidelines and FAQs, to help influencers and creators better understand and comply with the guidelines. He also acknowledged that there is a significant role that influencers and content creators play in shaping consumer opinions and purchasing decisions. As the industry continues to evolve, it is essential for all stakeholders to work together to maintain a high level of transparency, integrity, and professionalism in influencer marketing.

Sh. Anupam Mishra, Joint Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, Govt of India, presented a detailed presentation on the recently released guidelines, Endorsement Know-Hows. He stated that Department is actively encouraging influencers, content creators, and their agencies to provide feedback on the guidelines and their implementation. This feedback will help the Department identify areas for improvement and make necessary amendments to ensure that the guidelines remain relevant and effective in safeguarding consumer interests and promoting responsible influencer marketing practices.

Manisha Kapoor, CEO, Advertising Standards Council of India, called for digital platforms to take responsibility for advertising and the structuring of influencers. She also proposed the development of a model draft agreement between influencers and brands and urged platforms to incorporate guidelines for misleading ads in their community guidelines.

The industry raised concerns about the recognition of platform disclosure tools and sought clarity on audio and video advertising on social media. They emphasized the need for swift enforcement, considering the vast scope of the influencer marketing industry.

The dialogue was welcomed by creators, influencers, agencies, and the industry, who acknowledged the significant contribution of influencer marketing to the country's GDP. Key observations and suggestions from the meeting included the practice of self-imposed reasonable care and precaution by creators and influencers. They expressed optimism that regulation would strengthen and empower the industry.

The industry agreed on the importance of education for influencers and creators, as well as the role of influencer marketing in advertising. They stressed that content should have disclosures that are hard to miss for consumers and emphasized the need for creator empowerment as a top focus.

The guidelines, released in response to the rapidly growing digital world, require that endorsements be made in simple, clear language, using terms such as "advertisement," "sponsored," "collaboration," or "paid promotion." Individuals must not endorse any product or service that they have not personally used or experienced or in which due diligence has not been done by them. Disclosures must be placed in the endorsement message in a clear, prominent, and hard-to-miss manner.

The guidelines align with the Consumer Protection Act of 2019, which established guidelines for protecting consumers from unfair trade practices and misleading advertisements. The Department of Consumer Affairs published Guidelines for prevention of Misleading Advertisements and Endorsements for Misleading Advertisements, 2022 on June 9, 2022, outlining the criteria for valid advertisements and the responsibilities of manufacturers, service providers, advertisers, and advertising agencies.

The round table discussion marked a significant step toward fostering a transparent and responsible influencer marketing industry, ensuring consumer protection and empowering creators and influencers in their endeavors.

Following the round table discussion, the Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India, reiterated its commitment to working closely with influencers, content creators, and their agencies to ensure transparency, compliance, and growth in the influencer marketing industry. The discussion highlighted the need for ongoing dialogue and collaboration between all stakeholders to address concerns and foster a responsible and sustainable industry that benefits both consumers and creators.

The round table was attended by Influencers, namely, Aanchal Agrawal, Prasad Ved Pathak, Rakesh Tiwari and Kushagra Tayal. It was also attended by Mr Gurpreet Singh, One Digital Entertainment, Dhruv Chitgropekar, Big Bang Social, Jalak Raval, Taag One, Ritesh Ujjwal, Confluence, Ajay Kulkarni, Barcode Entertainment, Suneil Chawla, Influencer.in, Viraj Seth, Monk Entertainment, Kevin Lee, Yuvaa and Shweta Purandare, AdExpert.

In the coming months, the Department of Consumer Affairs plans to organize more such round table discussions. These events will provide an opportunity for influencers, content creators, and their agencies to ask questions, seek clarification, and share their experiences and best practices in implementing the guidelines.

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Requirements*Penalty for non-compliance**Representative: The NewPrinciples and Procedures initially reiterate the representativerequirements for social network providers (e.g., "1 milliondaily access" requirement for appointing a representative asreal person/legal entity and "10 million daily access"requirement for establishing a branch in the form of an equitycompany). The representative of a social network provider with morethan 10 million daily accesses has full technical, administrative,legal, and financial liability for social network provider'scompliance.

Incorporation requirements

ITCA states that the entity that meets the followingrequirements is deemed as the representative:

Documentation attesting the above and the following documentsmust also be submitted to the ITCA:

Additionally, if the representative is a real person where thesocial network provider's daily access from Trkiye doesnot exceed 10 million, documents showing that the representative isa Turkish citizen and resident in Trkiye must be submitted tothe ITCA.

Any changes to the above documentation or information must benotified to the ITCA immediately and no later than 72 hours.

Duties of the representative

The representative has the following duties:

Other requirements are as follows:

*Having a registered email address (i.e., KEP address)was not a regulatory requirement for representatives previously. Itappears that this was introduced to facilitate the delivery ofnotifications to the representative.

*If the social network provider fulfills the representativerequirement, only one-quarter of the administrative fines will becollected.

The New Principles and Procedures indicate that the socialnetwork providers must facilitate the receipt of the individualapplications. Accordingly, users should be able to send theirrequests in Turkish language, and social network providers mustrespond to such requests in Turkish.

*Upon the complaint of a user to the ITCA, the ITCA evaluateswhether the social network provider is complying with itsrequirements to respond to users. The ITCA evaluates the usercomplaints collectively during the semi-annual (transparency)report periods. In its evaluation, the ITCA takes into accountwhether the social network provider does the following:

The report to be prepared on the individual applications (i.e.,Article 9 and 9/A requests) must also be published on the socialnetwork provider's website without revealing any personaldata.

In addition, the ITCA states that social network providers mustcomply with accountability principles and submit any necessaryinformation and documentation as requested by the ITCA to ensuretransparency.

The advertisement library must be easily accessible on thesocial network provider's website.

The ITCA clarifies that the representative must directly respondto user data requests related to the above offences.

If social network providers comply with the userdata/information request, the internet bandwidth reduction order isrevoked.

The New Principles and Procedures clarify that the basic userinformation and information that may be required by the ITCA mustbe prioritized during the exercise of the data localizationrequirement.

The New Principles and Procedures clarifies that social networkproviders must take into account the following during the displayof content, advertisements and provision of services tochildren:

The New Principles and Procedures state that the social networkproviders must inform the ITCA regarding this mechanism as part ofsemi-annual reports.

Social network providers must provide the requested informationand documentation within no later than three months.

The New Principles and Procedures state that the ITCA may informthe social network providers regarding the aspects of preparationand disclosure of the crisis management plan.

2. The ITCA can issue an advertisement ban for up to six months(the advertisement ban is not automatically lifted followingcompliance with the ITCA order)

3. The ITCA can request from the judgeship of peace to order aninternet bandwidth reduction by 50% (irrespective of theadvertisement ban)

4. Internet bandwidth reduction by 90% for failure to complywithin 30 days of the initial internet bandwidth reductiondecision

Read the rest here:
ITCA Published New Principles And Procedures For Social Network ... - Mondaq News Alerts

The social media influencer drawn into the Cadbury Bournvita controversy, has a supporter. The Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest India (NAPi), a think tank working on nutrition policy, has issued a statement saying they stand by him.

Revant Himatsingka, who calls himself @foodpharmer on social media, with 1,35,000 followers on Instagram, drew the ire of Mondelez India, the company that owns Bournvita, with his April 1 video in which he had flagged the products high sugar content. He, however, deleted the video following a legal notice from the company on April 13. He has also apologised on his Instagram handle, while his Twitter handle has been suspended.

Bournvita, the 75-year-old brand, calls itself a chocolate health drink on its Instagram page with 4,43,000.

In January, NAPi had said that a Bournvita advertisement and product packaging was misleading and did not disclose the sugar content. The organisation has filed a formal complaint with the Department of Consumers Affairs, working under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution. It alleges the ads violate the provision of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

However, this has brought to a boil the real issue at hand the Food Standards and Safety Authority of India (FSSAI) dragging its feet over implementing its own guidelines to regulate packaged and processed food.

FSSAI has been discussing the possibility of front-of-pack labelling. According to this, brands would need to put a notification indicating if a food product was high in fat, sugar, and salt (HFSS). The labelling would allow consumers to make informed choices.

In September 2022, the statutory body had issued a draft notification on front-of-package labelling that proposed Indian Nutrition Rating. The health star-rating system for packaged foods will assign 1/2 a star (least healthy) to five stars (healthiest) depending on the ingredients and the degree of processing.

This, despite massive opposition from doctors and the governments own bodies such as the Indian Council of Medical Research and National Institute of Nutrition. Often ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are made to look healthy by adding some vitamins and minerals. That doesnt really work well for human health, said an expert, adding that the negatives of UPFs could outweigh the positives from the added vitamins and minerals.

Dr. Arun Gupta, paediatrician and NAPi convener, said the FSSAI has not been at the forefront of implementing its own regulations. Stars are a method to reward, and they should not be used. An upfront warning that a product is high in sugar content is required, he said.

In the past, easier ways of identifying healthy, relatively healthy, and unhealthy foods have been under consideration. One was the green-amber-red way, which was easy for even a young child to understand.

While ingredients in Bournvita can be found mentioned on the back of the product, the company, in a statement, said Bournvita is best consumed with a glass of 200 ml of hot or cold milk as highlighted on the pack.

Every serving of 20 gm of Bournvita has 7.5 gm of added sugar, which is approximately one-and-a-half teaspoons. This is much less than the daily recommended intake limits of sugar for children, said Mondelez India.

The World Health Organization in its nutrient profile model for the Southeast Asia region recommends prohibition of marketing in the category of milk and dairy-based drinks if the total sugar content of the product exceeds 7 gm per 100 gm.

According to FSSAIs Advertising and Claims Regulations, 2018, any product which has 5 gm of sugar per 100 gm can be categorised as low sugar.

In 2020, FSSAI had looked into 1,306 product samples across 30 food companies, including dairy, confectionery, sweets, snacks and more. None complied with its threshold for sugar to avoid warning labels 6 gm per 100 gm. A panel then proposed increasing the threshold arbitrarily by six times. Despite that, only 20% of products were found to be meeting the new threshold 36 gm of sugar per 100 gm. The rest had over 36 gm of sugar, a source in the technical expert committee constituted by FSSAI told The Hindu.

The panel was then dissolved and another committee formed to propose whether warning labels or health star ratings should be given in front-of-the-pack labelling, the source said.

Dr. Gupta says that FSSAI has not been at the forefront of implementing its own regulation. It works on a system of complaints and at times hearings drag on for years, he said.

See the original post:
Bournvita row | FSSAI needs an energy shot to regulate processed food - The Hindu

While TikTok may offer an environment to speak to a hard-to-reach audience from an advertising perspective, brand safety is an issue where TikTok has not yet applied all technology safeguards possible to protect advertisers, UM wrote in March 2021.

But last July, UM reversed its recommendation, saying TikTok had started working with technology company Integral Ad Science (IAS), which analyses a pool of curated videos and sends safe videos back to TikTok to add to an advertising campaign before it is launched.

Trialling in-feed ads for graduate hiring campaigns or Defence Force Recruiting would be a good place to start, UM said.

It is recommended to trial TikTok on a suitable campaign of this nature before considering broader application, UMs revised appraisal said.

But TikTok was ultimately deemed inappropriate for Defence Force recruiting.

Defence does not currently advertise on TikTok, a spokeswoman said. Defence will not use TikTok as an advertising medium as part of the 2023-24 Defence Force recruiting media strategy.

Earlier this year, UM proposed two pilot TikTok campaigns for the Australian Taxation Office, one about superannuation and the other about graduate recruitment. They were approved by the Department of Finance but also did not proceed.

An ATO spokeswoman confirmed the tax office ran a superannuation education campaign for a month until April 16, but had used previously successful channels.

UM also proposed pilot TikTok campaigns for the upcoming Voice referendum, which had not yet been approved by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC).

An AEC spokesman said the body had not used TikTok in any advertising campaign to date.

We are aware of broader government considerations regarding the use of TikTok as a channel and this will be a key factor in a final decision regarding AEC advertising, he said.

One trial that was approved was for Australian Eggs, which finished on March 31. Australian Eggs promotes eggs and is funded by statutory levies and the Australian government for research and development.

Australian Eggs managing director Rowan McMonnies said the organisation differed from government agencies that hold sensitive information. Australian Eggs doesnt hold any national security information, so the relevant risk doesnt arise, he said.

The government hasnt banned TikTok and millions of Australians continue to use it. If it became apparent that TikTok could adversely impact the reputation of Australian Eggs or Australian Egg farmers then we would immediately reconsider using it as a media platform.

The organisations campaign on TikTok was a success, he added.

A TikTok spokeswoman confirmed the social media platform had worked alongside health departments and the AEC in the past.

A wide range of brands and advertisers, both big and small, find great success working with TikTok and connecting with our millions of users, she said.

This includes successful information campaigns run in collaboration with Health Departments regarding COVID-19 and the Australian Electoral Commission around elections. We look forward to working with government entities in the future to help them reach new audiences.

The Department of Finance told the Financial Review TikTok may be trialled for campaigns where deemed suitable.

In April, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus issued a directive banning TikTok on government-issued devices based on advice from intelligence and security agencies.

However, the directive included caveats for legitimate business reasons to have the app, including: where an entity must use the application to reach key audiences to undertake marketing or public relations activity on behalf of the entity.

James Paterson, the newly appointed opposition spokesman for Home Affairs and Cyber Security, called for a consistent approach across government agencies and departments.

UM told the Financial Review it regularly reviews and updates its advice to government on a range of media and social media platforms.

Over time, UM has communicated the improvements to brand safety made by TikTok most notably integration with Integral Ad Science to pre-vet video content and advised government the platform should be considered for trial for any campaigns deemed suitable, it said.

Given how rapidly the media landscape changes and the prevalence for new and unforeseen brand safety issues to arise, UMs advice to all advertisers is constantly under review.

Excerpt from:
TikTok given government advertising green light despite device ban - The Australian Financial Review

Snapchat has announced a new integration with measurement and attribution provider Rockerbox, which will provide more data to help Snapchat advertisers maximize marketing performance.

Rockerbox provides attribution and performance insights across a range of online channels, giving you a more holistic view of how each of your ad elements is performing.

With this new integration, Snapchat will now feed its performance data into the Rockerbox system.

As per Snap:

Through this enhanced partnership, Snap will sit alongside Rockerboxs 200+ other platform integrations with popular search, social, display, and traditional channels, allowing marketers to see exactly how much of their conversions and revenue can be attributed to Snap. You can do this by tapping into Snaps expansive set of Performance Marketing solutions, whether youre focused on driving online sales, generating leads, or acquiring and re-engaging with users of your mobile app.

The partnership will provide Snapchat marketers with new capacity to measure attribution, share of impact within your marketing channels, and additional insights into audience response, which will help you optimize and maximize your Snap ads performance.

Its another step for Snaps business tools, which continue to evolve as the platform looks to capitalize on its marketing opportunities. Snapchat, which is now up to 750 million monthly active users, remains a key connective platform for younger audiences, and as such, it also provides significant potential for reaching these audiences and generating hype around your products.

The new insights will help to optimize your Snap approach within your broader marketing strategy.

You can read more about Snaps new partnership with Rockerbox here.

See the article here:
Snapchat Announces New Integration with Rockerbox to Provide ... - Social Media Today