If it's an ad, disclose it upfront: ASCI guidelines for digital influencers

Feedback on the draft guidelines are invited till March 8, after which ASCI will issue the final guidelines by March 31

Do away with the grey, and let us have it in black and white. That’s the message the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has for digital media influencers.

ASCI has brought out draft guidelines for “influencer advertising on digital media”, an expanding and so far unmonitored landscape where the lines between personal and promotional content is often blurred. The self-regulatory body wants social media influencers to disclose upfront — through labels or in the case of audio media, by way of an announcement at the beginning and the end of the audio — that the content is promotional and