Marks and Spencer Reliance India Private Limited - Marks and Spencer

Recommendation: Upheld | Medium: Suo Motu - NAMS (Reech)

In the absence of a written response from the influencer/advertiser on or before the prescribed due date, the ASCI Secretariat considered this complaint exparte. Advertisement shows an Influencer promoting a skincare brand. The advertisement does not carry a disclosure label that clearly identifies it as an advertisement. The influencer / owner of the brand has not disclosed details regarding any material connection, monetary or non-monetary between the owner of the brand and the influencer nor does it indicate whether or not the influencer was paid to post the details of the brand. The influencer has not mentioned any disclosure labels such as "Advertisement", "Ad", "Sponsored", "Collaboration", “Partnership”, "Employee", "Free Gift", "paid partnership", "affiliate" in the Instagram advertisement. The advertisement is misleading by omission and exploits consumers' lack of knowledge. Since necessary disclosures were not inserted in the captioned advertisement, this advertisement is in contravention of Chapter I, 1.4 and 1.5 of the ASCI Code, and Clause 1, 1.1(a), and 1.3(a) of ASCI Guidelines for Influencer Advertising in Digital Media. This complaint was UPHELD by Secretariat.