Vloggers have become the reality stars of our times. For an increasing number of social media users, what was once a hobby is now a lucrative career. You may be surprised to learn that Felix Kjellberg (aka “PewDiePie”), a 25-year-old Swedish comedian and the world’s most popular YouTube star, is reported to have earned $8.5 million in 2014.
The UK has its own vlogger superstars in the form of Zoella and Alfie Deyes. Together, this power couple of social media has amassed 12 million YouTube subscribers, 6.8 million Instagram followers and almost 6 million Twitter followers. Zoe Suggs (aka “Zoella”), 25, started vlogging in 2009 and has since become a brand in fashion and beauty marketing, publishing a novel and creating a line of products. Alfie, 21, started his Pointless vlog when he was 15 and has since published a series of books. It was even announced earlier this year that tourists will soon be able to see waxworks of Zoella and Alfie at London’s Madame Tussauds. But Zoella and Alfie are not alone; there is now a whole generation of vloggers rivalling film and sports stars in the popularity ranks. Indeed, we now even have a host of social media talent agencies formed to help propel vloggers to superstardom.
Vloggers are particularly popular with young people who enjoy the more intimate connection they can have with these approachable idols. Therefore, brands who want to target a young demographic are increasingly keen to work with vloggers. This collaboration typically involves brands paying vloggers to feature in “advertorial vlogs,” i.e., videos created in the usual style of the vlogger, but with the content controlled by the brand.
Now, of course, there is nothing inherently wrong with there being a commercial relationship between a brand and a vlogger from a legal perspective. However, particularly where you have the influence of celebrity, plus an impressionable audience, vloggers and brands need to be very careful that they don’t fall foul of consumer protection rules that are in place to protect consumers from unfair advertising practices. In August 2015, the UK advertising regulator issued new guidance to help vloggers and brands be responsible and stay on the right side of the law. In this blog post, we will identify the key issues raised by the guidance. We will also provide an overview of some of the other key legal issues that brands need to be aware of when using social media for marketing and advertising in the UK.
Vlogs
The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (“CPRs”) prohibit certain unfair commercial practices. These include using editorial content in the media to promote a product where a trader has paid for the promotion without making that clear (advertorial).
The Committee of Advertising Practice Code (the “CAP Code”) acts as the rule book for non-broadcast advertisements in the UK and requires that advertising must be legal, decent, honest and truthful. The CAP Code was extended to cover social media in 2011. The Cap Code is enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority (“ASA”), the UK regulator responsible for advertising content in the UK. The ASA has the power to remove or have amended any ads that breach the CAP Code.
Rule 2.1 of the CAP Code states that marketing communications must be obviously identifiable as such. Rule 2.4 states that marketers and publishers must make clear that advertorials are marketing communications, e.g., by labelling them “advertisement feature.” These rules apply to marketing communications on vlogs in the same way as they would to marketing communications that appear on blogs or other online sites. But as the CAP Executive noted last year, a number of marketers have “fallen foul of the ASA by blurring the line, intentionally or not, between independent editorial content written about a product and advertising copy.”
In November 2014, the ASA’s ruling against Mondelez provided a clear example of a brand failing to comply with the CAP Code. Mondelez had engaged five celebrity vloggers to promote its Oreo cookies by participating in a race to lick cream off a cookie as quickly as possible. The channels featuring the vlogs typically contained non-promotional content, and the vlogs failed to clearly indicate the commercial relationship between Mondelez and the vloggers. The reference to “Thanks to Oreo for making this video possible” might indicate that Oreo had been involved in the process, but it did not make clear that the advertiser had paid for and had editorial control over the videos. As a result, the advertorials were banned.
In another high-profile case, in May 2015, a YouTube video providing makeup tutorials featuring the popular vlogger Ruth Crilly, who has 300,000 subscribers on YouTube, was banned by the ASA for failing to clearly identify itself as marketing material. The video appeared on the “Beauty Recommended” YouTube channel, which is operated by Procter & Gamble, with the intention of marketing its Max Factor range of products. The ASA stated that the channel page provided “no indication” that it was a Max Factor marketing tool, and emphasized that “it wasn’t clear until a viewer had selected and opened the video that text, embedded in the video, referred to Procter & Gamble….We consider that viewers should have been aware of the commercial nature of the content prior to engagement.”
Guidance
In August 2015, the CAP Code Executive published guidance to help vloggers and brands better understand their obligations under the advertising rules. While the guidance is not binding, it’s a helpful statement of the rules as they apply to vlogs.
Advertorial. Where a brand collaborates with a vlogger on a video that is produced by the brand and published on the brand’s website or social media page, this is very likely to be a marketing communication—but it wouldn’t be an advertorial. However, where a vlog is made in the usual style of the vlogger, but the content of the vlog is controlled by the brand and the vlogger has been paid (not necessarily with money) for the vlog, this would be an advertorial. Because the extent of the brand involvement may not be obvious to the viewer, this needs to be made explicit upfront so that viewers are aware that the video is an ad before engaging. Labels such as “ad,” “ad feature,” “advertorial,” or similar are likely to be acceptable, whereas labels such as “sponsored by,” “supported by” and “thanks to X for making this possible” should be avoided, as these would not make it sufficiently clear that the brand had control over the content of the vlog. Viewers should be aware that they are selecting an ad to view before they watch it so that they can make an informed choice. Finding out that something is an ad after having selected it, at the end of a video or halfway through, is not sufficient.
Commercial breaks/product placement. In terms of commercial breaks or product placement within a vlog, it needs to be clear when the ad or product placement starts. This could be via onscreen text, a sign, logo or the vlogger explaining that they have been paid to talk about a particular item by the brand.
Vlogger-promotion. If the sole content of a vlog is a promotion of the vlogger’s own merchandise, this would not be considered an advertorial. Rather, it would be a marketing communication. The video title should make clear that the video is promoting the vlogger’s products, but it’s unlikely that the vlog itself will need labelling as an ad if it’s clear from the context that it’s a marketing communication.
Sponsorship. Where a brand has sponsored a vlog, but the brand has no control over the vlog, this would not be considered an ad and would not be caught by the CAP Code. However, to ensure compliance with the CPRs, the vlogger should give a nod to the sponsor in order to disclose the nature of the commercial relationship.
Free Items. Vloggers may be sent free items by a brand. Where there is no condition attached to the item by the brand and the vlogger can choose whether or not to cover the item in a vlog, this would not be an ad caught by the CAP Code. In addition, where the brand provides the vlogger with free products on the condition that they are reviewed independent of any brand input, then, as the brand retains no control over the vlog, the video would not have to be labelled as an advertorial. However, in such circumstances, the vlogger should disclose to consumers that the vlogger has an incentive to talk about the product, along with the nature of the incentive, to ensure compliance with the CPRs.
Other Social Media Marketing
Vlogging isn’t the only aspect of social media marketing that creates compliance challenges, of course. There are other issues that brands need to be aware of when advertising and marketing using social media in the UK. We have outlined some of these below. For issues specific to the UK financial services sector, please see our previous blog post: UK’s Financial Services Regulator: No Hashtags in Financial Promotions.
Native Advertising (written advertorial). A native ad is advertising that resembles editorial content. Native ads are a popular form of content marketing, but again raise concerns that consumers may not be aware that the content is advertising in breach of the CPRs and Cap Code. Guidance issued in February 2015 by IAB (the UK trade association for digital advertising) advised advertisers to provide consumers with prominently visible visual cues to enable them to understand, immediately, that they are engaging with marketing content that has been compiled by a third party in a native ad format and is not editorially independent. The guidance suggests clear brand logos and the use of different design formatting for native ads. It also advises the publisher or provider of the native ad format to use a reasonably visible label that makes clear that a commercial arrangement is in place.
Employee Endorsements. Companies are keen to encourage their employees to use social media and become advocates for the company. However, companies must be careful; if an employee chooses to discuss his or her employer’s brand favorably on social media, then this is likely to be construed as an advert under the CAP Code, even where the employee is acting independently and not at the request of his or her employer. An employee endorsement that is not transparent also runs the risk of breaching the CPRs. Therefore, employees must make clear that they are affiliated with their employer when making any company endorsements on social media. Organizations should also provide employees with clear social media policies and training to avoid any incident of inadvertent advertising.
Ads via Twitter and Celebrity Endorsements. As mentioned above, the CPRs and CAP Code require users to be aware that they are viewing an advert. In terms of Twitter, this means that promotional tweets should be accompanied by the hashtag #spon or #ad. This is particularly the case where the advert may not be immediately apparent as a promotional tweet, e.g., where it is in the form of a celebrity endorsement. As with promotions using vloggers, companies are increasingly keen to use celebrities in connection with promotions in order to increase their brand awareness within that celebrity’s group of followers.
In March 2012, an advertising campaign by Mars involved reality star Katie Price tweeting about the Eurozone crisis, and soccer player Rio Ferdinand engaging his followers in a debate about knitting. The campaign involved four teaser tweets by each celebrity to focus attention on their Twitter profile (but with no marketing content), culminating with a final tweet that was an image of the celebrity with a Snickers chocolate bar and the line “you’re not you when you’re hungry @snickersUK #hungry#spon.” While the final tweet was clearly labelled as an advert, the ASA ruled that the first four tweets only became marketing communications at the point the fifth and final tweet was sent (as the first four tweets contained no marketing references). As a result, the ASA ruled that the campaign did not breach advertising standards as the fifth tweet (and as such, the entire campaign) was clearly identifiable as an advert.
However, Nike was less successful in June 2012. Soccer players Wayne Rooney and Jack Wilshere tweeted “My resolution – to start the year as a champion, and to finish it as a champion… #makeitcount.gonike.me/makeitcount.” While the ASA agreed that the tweets were obviously marketing communications, the reference to the Nike brand was not sufficiently prominent. The tweets also lacked #spon or #ad to signify advertising. As it was not sufficiently clear to all readers that the tweets were part of a marketing campaign, the advertisement was banned.
User-Generated Content. Companies also need to be wary when using user-generated content when promoting their brand. For example, companies may be deemed to be advertising if they: (i) provide a link to a user blog that includes positive comments, (ii) re-tweet positive tweets from users, or (iii) allow users to post comments on the company website. To ensure that such content is responsible, accurate and not misleading, harmful or offensive, companies should monitor user-generated content to ensure that the content is appropriate for the likely audience and preserve documentary evidence to substantiate any claims.
Advergames. Advergames are online video games that are created in order to promote a brand, product or organization by immersing a marketing message within the game. In May 2012, the ASA published guidance that made clear that advergames will be considered advertising and are subject to the CAP Code. For further discussion on advergames, please see our previous blog post: What Are the Rules of the Advergame in the UK?
Conclusion
The key message for organizations who want to use social media in their marketing campaigns is to treat consumers fairly and to be upfront and transparent. But good practice isn’t just about legal compliance, it will also help maintain consumers’ respect for and trust in your brand. If your social media campaign hits the headlines, you want it to be for all of the right reasons.