Influencers make up one fifth of complaints to Advertising Standards Authority

Social media influencers made up 279 of the complaints, of which 95 were reported after the launch of the Joint Guidance on Influencer Marketing in October 2023.

Social media influencers were one of the biggest sources of complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) last year, featuring in 20% of the submissions received.

They made up 279 of the complaints, of which 95 were reported after the launch of the Joint Guidance on Influencer Marketing with the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) in October 2023.

In comparison, influencer marketing only accounted for 7% of complaints (88) in 2022 and 5% in 2021 (77).

On November 17, the authority introduced an anonymous social media influencer content complaints reporting form and by the end of the year it was alerted to concerning content a total of 903 times by some 300 social media influencers.

Some 590 of these referenced a missing label or hashtag, followed by a label or hashtag not visible or not at the start of content (171); the remaining complaints pointed to incorrect labels or hashtags (142).

Overall, the health and beauty sector attracted the second highest number of complaints (221), followed by leisure (153) and household (111).

The ASA received 1,402 complaints concerning 1,134 ads last year alone.

Sixty per cent of the complaints received were linked to digital media while broadcast media (TV and radio combined) came in at 26%. 

Outdoor media such as billboards were the source of just 4% of complaints.

Focusing on the key highlights from 2023, ASA chief executive Orla Twomey said: 

“This year has seen the emergence of new statutory entities and important partners to the Advertising Standards Authority in the co-regulatory landscape together with the development of new key guidance.

“During 2023, we partnered with key organisations, including Coimisiún na Meán, to seamlessly progress our partnership agenda with the new broadcast and online media regulator, focusing on plans for a memorandum of understanding and joint projects next year.

“Additionally, we contributed to the State-led Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce regarding the use of the phrase ‘unlimited’ in advertising.

“Comprehensive influencer marketing guidelines were also launched in 2023 with the CCPC.”

She said ongoing promotion of the guidelines will continue into 2024 to educate influencers and brands on the correct disclosure of commercial content on social media.

“We will also be streamlining our complaints management operations to enable us to distribute our resources across all areas of our service proposition so that our contribution to maintain high advertising standards can be maintained,” Ms Twomey added.

ASA CEO Orla Twomey said ongoing promotion of the marketing guidelines will continue into 2024 to educate influencers and brands on the correct disclosure of commercial content on social media.

ASA chair Miriam Hughes shed light on the challenges of the last few years.

“The shift from traditional to online advertising has heightened the responsibility of brands and platforms to ensure that commercial content adheres to the high standards of the Code,” Ms Hughes said.

“The challenges currently being faced in the advertising industry highlight the importance of robust guidance and advertising co-regulation for widespread benefit.

“The establishment of Coimisiún na Meán and the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland during 2023 were welcome additions to an already complex advertising landscape, and has further strengthened regulatory infrastructure across the wider industry.”

She said the ASA annual report emphasises the importance of engagement and collaboration with these bodies, the CCPC, and the necessity of industry and digital platform support for sustained regulatory success.