New advertising guidelines look to enforce vlogger transparency

The UK Committee of Advertising Practice has produced a fresh set guidelines for vloggers who take payment in exchange for promotional videos. 

The new rules have been created in response to a recent Advertising Standards Authority ruling which found several vloggers guilty of misleading their viewers by failing to ensure they had labelled paid-for content as advertisements.

In short, the new rules state that all advertorial posts must be "obviously identifiable". If any vlogger has been paid to promote a specific product or service, they must be completely transparent about that fact. 

The Committee of Advertising Practice believes the new guidelines are a fair reaction to emerging advertising trends in an evolving media landscape. 

“Wherever ads appear we should be confident we can trust what an advertiser says; it’s simply not fair if we’re being advertised to and are not made aware of that fact," said Shahriar Coupa, director of the Committee of Advertising Practice.

"Our guidance will give vloggers greater confidence that they’re sticking to the rules which in turn will help maintain the relationship and trust they’ve built with their followers.”

Of course, this isn't the first time blogger transparency has been called into question, and, as we found out during our extensive coverage of "The YouTube Effect", some simply don't believe paid-for content should be classed as advertising - instead labelling it "compensation". 

Indeed, whether or not vloggers agree with the new rules remains to be seen, but, as of today, any advertiser or agency that asks a vlogger not to disclose that they’re advertising is asking them to break the rules, and potentially, the law.