Vloggers must tell viewers when they are being paid to promote products, says the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority. The declaration comes after various vloggers received money to promote Oreo biscuits, without making it clear that they were being rewarded to do so. The ASA said the clips were not being clearly labeled as adverts and that they must be removed from services like YouTube.
Video bloggers are being told to put words like “ad” and “promo” in the titles of any videos that are being used to promote products – or to use symbols to make it clear that the clip is being used to advertise goods or services. Labour MP Ben Bradshaw said that companies were exploiting ‘loopholes’ that didn’t exist offline. He said that the “strict rules” that governed TV advertising were lacking when it came to online viewing platforms.
A lifestyle and beauty vlogger called Chyaz also called for clearer guidelines so that others could decide whether a video was acceptable or not before they uploaded it. She told the BBC “Everybody’s tried to do what they think is right but it’s nice to have something more solid – some guidelines so we can do what’s actually right.” The ASA states that it will be paying closer attention to the activities of popular vloggers in future. Vloggers have become incredibly influential over recent years, particularly amongst young web users, with some attracting hundreds of thousands of followers.
What do you think? Do you think that stricter rules about vlogging need to be introduced? Are impressionable followers being tricked? Tell us below.