WizEmail Blog :: ASA Crackdown On Social Influencers

I’m a strong supporter of using lots of other methods of advertising in email marketing campaigns. I would have suggested you had lots to gain and nothing to lose. It appears I might have been wrong in one aspect. The ASA has become frustrated by the lack of response by certain social influencers to warnings regarding the lack of disclosure of adverts on their pages.

Early on this year, the ASA issued their Influencer Monitoring Report which focused on the levels of advert disclosure on Instagram. If you’ve read their press releases and the comments on their website since then, you will not be surprised to discover they have decided to take further steps as, it seems, influencers can’t be influenced by appeals.

The ASA recently issued a press release to announce the launch of a dedicated page on its website that would, and indeed has, ‘named and shamed’ non-compliant influencers. It appears that the action has a two-fold intent: to, obviously, shame the perpetuator by making their name public (if an obscure page on the ASA website is public) so damaging their reputation; and also, to deter potential advertisers.

If you don’t already know the names of those awarded a place on this page, it perhaps suggests the idea’s not working, but you’ll what to know who they are: Chloe Ferry, Chloe Khan, Jodie Marsh, Lucy Mecklenburgh, and five former Love Island participants. All are, I’m assured by my daughter, famous, so the attractions for email marketing support are obvious if the product merits it.

It seems they have earned their place on this page by being requested to provide ‘assurances’ of complying with the requirements of labelling but either failed to give such assurance or have done so, but not complied; being contemptuous of the ASA in other words. This isn’t the end of the process. If those on the page continue their nefarious activities, the ASA will approach the platforms to have the content removed, or refer the influencers to statutory bodies.