NEW DELHI: Bollywood stars, who promote beauty products they have never used in their life, will no longer be able to do so as the government has tightened the norms for such paid endorsements.
Celebrities and other personalities who have considerable sway over the masses’ purchasing decisions will now have to fully disclose their commercial relationship with the product or service they are endorsing.
According to the set of guidelines released by the Department of Consumer Affairs, celebrities, influencers, and virtual influencers on social media platforms will have to clearly disclose if they are promoting a particular product or service for monetary benefit, gifts, barter deals, or any other quid-pro-quo arrangement.
In the case of paid or barter brand endorsement, the disclosure should say ‘advertisement’, ‘ad’, ‘sponsored’, ‘collaboration’, or ‘partnership’. Moreover, the term must be indicated as a hashtag or headline text, say the guidelines.
Also, individuals must not endorse any product or service they themselves have not personally used, or experienced or in which due diligence has not been done by them. The guidelines also state that the disclosure must be placed in the endorsement message in a clear, prominent manner, and extremely hard to miss. Disclosures should not be mixed with a group of hashtags or links.
For endorsements in a picture, disclosures should be superimposed over the image. For video or live stream endorsements, disclosures should be made in both audio and video format and displayed continuously and prominently during the entire stream.
HARD TO MISS
According to the guidelines, disclosures should be placed in the endorsement message in such a manner that they are clear, prominent and extremely hard to miss. Also, influencers should satisfy themselves of the claims in the advt