Ad Standards is reportedly cracking down on sponsored content shared to Instagram by calling out influencers (the first one being Anna Heinrich) who don’t make it clear that they’re being paid to fang products by using #ad.
Perth Now reports that back in February, Ad Standards introduced strict guidelines requiring that all paid ad posts include “clearly distinguishable” tags, such as the hashtag #ad or phrases like “paid partnership” or “advert.”
The first influencer to receive a slap on the wrist for breaking these guidelines (that we know of) is The Bachelor winner turned influencer, Anna Heinrich, who got sprung for breaching AANA’s distinguishable advertising rules.
Anna Heinrich reportedly shared a paid ad without stipulating that she had scored dollarydoos from the brand to make the post.
The piccy in question was sponsored by fash label Runway and was shared to her 380,000 followers on February 11. The publication reports that her caption at the time was “not sufficient” as there was no mention of it being an ad.
After being informed of the issue, Anna Heinrich then edited her post to include a paid ad tag.
For any influencers reading this, here’s a handy guide, as pointed out by Ad Standards, to help you decide if your post needs the #ad or not:
a. Does the marketer have a reasonable degree of control over the material?
b. Does the material draw the attention of the public in a manner calculated to promote a product or service?
With that said, using #ad doesn’t necessarily mean total transparency, as several influencers have recently been called out for pretending to use a product they’ve been paid to endorse.
So yeah, there are definite loopholes there, IMO.
Wonder who’s next after Anna Heinrich?
