When To Use #AD (ASA GUIDELINES)
Whoop whoop, it's the sound of the ASA!
#AD is the standard way to disclose influencer partnership content, but we know it can still be a bit confusing in practice — especially when trying to get the balance right between transparency and creativity.
The New Zealand Advertising Standards Authority provides a set of guidelines all content creators must follow when making sponsored posts.
Breaches could violate the Fair Trading Act 1986, leading to fines of up to $200,000 which isn't a fun time for anyone. But we're here to help!
According to the ASA guidelines, an advertisement is “any content controlled directly or indirectly by the advertiser, expressed in any medium with the intent to influence the choice, opinion or behaviour of an audience.”
For content creators, this is any content where you have received payment or incentives from an advertiser to create. This includes gifted products and services, travel, event tickets, etc. This means AD disclosure must be clear on content including:
Free products or services (even if posting isn’t required),
Promotional events, trips or ambassadorships,
Promoting your own business or affiliate codes.
To disclose an ad, it must be clear and obvious. It must be identified before consumers interact further with the content. If a consumer needs to:
click on,
listen with sound,
watch stories, or
swipe through photos
before realising a post is an ad, this content will not be sufficiently identified.
The easiest way to do this is to use #AD at the front of your caption—it must be visible without the viewer pressing ‘See More.’
Or, you could display AD text on screen and use Paid Partnership tools on social media where possible.
To make it more clear for your audience, you could follow #AD up with:
#GIFTED for free products,
#AMBASSADOR for partnerships,
#EVENT or #PRTRIP for promotional events or travel.
However, #AD must be first and clearly visible.
When it comes to disclosing, there are no shortcuts and no excuses. To read more information or for frequently asked questions, head to asa.co.nz and search ‘Influencer’.