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What you need to know about ASAS' digital & social media guidelines

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The Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore (ASAS) has called for a public consultation on its draft Digital and Social Media Advertising Guidelines.After an extensive study and some inputs from various industry players, ASAS has drawn up the draft guidelines in order to address the challenges created by such advertisements.Summary of the guidelinesThe draft guidelines establish the levels of disclosure that are required for sponsored messages that appear on blogs and social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.These include a possible change in the way marketers engage with influencers for their brands.For instance, marketers will be required to make sponsored messages distinguishable from personal opinions and editorial content in their posts and disclose any commercial relationships. Ads should not appear as impartial or casual Tweets on a user's Twitter account if they are endorsing a specific sponsor, product, service or product name."Endorsements must reflect the honest opinions, findings, beliefs or experiences, of the endorser. An endorsement must not convey any express or implied representation that would be deceptive if made directly by the advertiser," the draft proposal stated.Marketing messages are prohibited from taking the form of blogs that "appear to originate from a credible and impartial source, but there are in fact created by a marketer for the purpose of marketing a product or service".Marketers are advised to take appropriate steps to ensure that the commercial nature of the content of a social network site under the control or influence of a marketer is clearly indicated and that the rules and standards or acceptable commercial behaviour in these networks are respected.Meanwhile, the draft added that individually addressed unsolicited marketing communication via digital media should "not transmit messages that contain pornographic, violent, racist and sexist comments."Disclosures should be placed prominently so that they are made clear to consumers and they should be "at least as large as the claim to which they relate".For user generated comments, marketers are encouraged to develop moderation guidelines and publish them on their social media properties.Cautioning the abuse of "like-gating and like-farming", the guideline stated that marketers must not use services, paid or otherwise, that make a post, video or account appear more popular, frequently accessed or widely shared than it actually is.Marketers are advised against inducing people to like, share, or use social plugins so as to falsely suggest that "contents are more popular than they actually are".In addition, marketers will have to develop community guidelines, be transparent about fees and the purchase process, and ensure that digital marketing communications addressed to children are suitable for them.The guidelines draw reference from similar advertising codes of conduct that are already established in countries such as Australia and the United Kingdom, as well as some of those set by social media channels.For the draft, ASAS has invited interested parties to submit written comments on the draft Digital and Social Media Advertising guidelines.“All submissions should be clearly and concisely written, and should provide a reasonable explanation for any proposed revisions,” the advisory stated.All advertisements that appear in Singapore are required to comply with the Singapore Code of Advertising Practice (SCAP), regardless of the media that they appear in.The guidelines, once finalised, will be incorporated into SCAP.The period of consultation is from 7 December 2015 to 8 January 2016.(Photo: Shutterstock)

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