PLAY BY AD RULES

÷ MAKE IT CLEAR THAT IT’S AN AD Many of those who make money or get freebies (such as holidays and products) by promoting brands on social media are not in the advertising industry in the traditional sense. However, they are still bound by advertising rules. “There’s a difference between posting a view on social media with your own personal opinion and not being paid for it — and being paid for it,” said Orla Twomey, chief executive of the advertising watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland (ASAI). “Once you are being paid and a brand has a certain amount of say over what you say, advertising rules should apply and consumers are entitled to know that it is marketing and communications [as opposed to a personal opinion you are not being paid for].” Be sure therefore to disclose if you are doing marketing on behalf of a brand — either within the blog or post itself, or through the use of hashtags (words preceded by a hash mark which sum up what the accompanying text is about).

÷ GET UP TO SPEED ON ALL THE RULES “Once it is an ad, then all the advertising rules apply,” said Twomey. “There are rules around the inclusion of children in ads — and around the environmental claims made about a car. There are rules around advertising alcohol. If you’re working with a food company which promotes health products, there are specific rules around that.” There are situations when ASAI rules don’t apply but where consumer protection guidelines might. “If a brand is just sending out free products to a lot of people and the brand has no control over what is said about it, ASAI rules don’t apply,” said Twomey. “This could arise where a public relations company sends out free products.” However, there are consumer protection guidelines in this area. “Under these guidelines, the fact that free product has been received should be disclosed,” said Twomey.

÷ DON’T MISLEAD Be careful about making any claims about the efficacy of a company’s product. It is against advertising rules to mislead or to “be likely to mislead by inaccuracy, ambiguity, exaggeration, omission or otherwise”. “We would expect a blogger to be able to stand over a claim in an ad — so if you’re blogging on a product, check if the company has substantiated the claims it has made about a brand or product [before repeating those claims],” said Twomey. “The onus for substantiation of claims falls on the brand [rather than the blogger].” Be careful too about altering images. “If you’re blogging about a slimming product and you’ve used technology to make photos of yourself look slimmer, that’s misleading,” said Twomey.

÷ PROTECT YOUR REPUTATION Although the ASAI doesn’t fine people or companies for breaking its rules, it publishes the findings of complaints it has investigated. An adjudication from the ASAI against a blogger and the company behind the brands being promoted could damage the reputation of the blogger, the company, and the brand itself. “Brand reputation is very important for bloggers,” said Twomey.

“Bloggers should realise they have a brand reputation to mind — and transparency and honesty is one way to do that.”