ASA sets new standard for UK over YouTube stars' promotional deals

The rapid rise and growing power of YouTube stars’ promotional deals is forcing authorities to clamp-down against flimsy advertising disclosures.

The UK’s advertising watchdog – the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) – has issued a strong warning following a ruling against snack giant Mondelez, which paid five popular UK YouTubers to promote its Oreo brand.

The authority found that a lack of “sufficient disclosure” to highlight to the vloggers’ cumulative 6.9m audience that video posts titled “Oreo Lick Race” were paid-for advertising.

Following the warning, the videos have since been amended to include a clearer statement, “This is a paid for advertisement,” as a video annotation overlay and in the descriptions.

Despite the original posts referencing a relationship to the Oreo brand such as, “thanks to Oreo for making this video possible”, the ASA found this was not enough.

The ASA ruling, the first to mention YouTube, establishes a new standard for the region:

The ASA said: “The ads must not appear again in their current form. We told Mondelez UK Ltd to ensure that future ads in this medium made their commercial intent clear prior to consumer engagement.”

Hannah Law, press and public affairs assistant for the ASA, said there was nothing wrong with prominent vloggers entering into commercial relationships, “they just have to be up front with their viewers about that fact.”

“This means making a distinction between ads and editorial-based content so viewers can make an informed choice,” she added.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E20D4sMwUlE#t=175