Govt’s New Strict Rules for Endorsement of Products by Celebrities, Social Media Influencers  

New Delhi: Department of Consumer Affairs of the Central government has released a set of guidelines called “Endorsements Know-hows!” for celebrities, and social media influencers. These rules will ensure that these endorsers of various products do not mislead their audiences.

As per the new directive, it is essential for celebrities, influencers, and virtual influencers to adhere to the guidelines to maintain transparency and authenticity. The guidelines state that endorsements must be made in simple, clear language, and terms such as “advertisement,” “sponsored,” “collaboration” or “paid promotion” can be used. Individuals must not endorse any product or service that they have not personally used or experienced or in which due diligence has not been done by them.

The disclosures must be placed in the endorsement message in a manner that is clear, prominent, and extremely hard to miss. They should not be mixed with a group of hashtags or links. For endorsements in a picture, disclosures should be superimposed over the image enough for viewers to notice.

For endorsements in a video or a live stream, disclosures should be made in both audio and video format and displayed continuously and prominently during the entire stream.