Since the rise of social networks, and with it, the emergence of influencers, more and more brands are using these opinion leaders for their advertising campaigns. This communication strategy is called “Influencer Marketing” and has become so popular that the advertising sector has needed to regulate this type of content.
That is why, since January 1, 2021, this practice has a “Code of conduct for the proper use of influencers in advertising”, whose objective is to establish the deontological framework that should be applied in the advertising of people with influence.
This Code was agreed upon by the Spanish Association of Advertisers (“AEA”) and the Association for Self-Regulation of Commercial Communication (“Autocontrol”). This code applies to all companies adhering to AEA or Autocontrol, as well as to all those advertisers, agencies, representatives, media or influencers who commit to comply in their commercial communications with the rules included therein.
Objective of the Code
Only content with advertising purposes is subject to this code. That is, those:
- Whose objective is the promotion of products or services;
- Are disclosed within the framework of collaborations or reciprocal commitments, the disclosure of said content being the object of a payment or other consideration by the advertiser or its representatives.
- On which the advertiser or its agents exert editorial control or (previously establishing all or part of it and/or validating it).
According to this Code, it is irrelevant whether the payment for the collaboration is monetary or in kind, that is, the Code understands as such both direct and indirect payment, as well as deliveries, tickets and free provision of products, events and services respectively, in addition to, among others, gift vouchers or trips.
Recommendations on the Correct Identification of Advertising Content
This Code includes a series of guidelines on the type of indications that the influencer must maintain or add when sharing or reposting content on social networks, platforms or web pages.
It is recommended to use clear generic indications such as “advertising “, “ad”, “in collaboration with “or “sponsored by”, or descriptive ones depending on the collaboration in question (e.g. “ambassador of (brand), “Thanks to (brand)“, Trip sponsored by”, etc.). The inclusion of generic indications (such as “information “, “legal” or similar), which require an action by the user (e.g. “click “) or unclear ones (such as “collab”, sponso “or “sp”) is discouraged.
Regarding the use of advertising labels, the Code is limited to establishing that these must be explicit, immediate and appropriate to the medium and message. So that, the label or tag in question must be clearly identifiable, so that it is not diluted among the rest of the mentions of the content.