The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that UK influencers are not allowed to use filters on promotional, ad, and sponsored material they post on Instagram. This basically means if influencers or celebrities are teaming up with brands to promote and review products on Instagram they are no longer allow to exaggerate the claims of the product using a filter. Say if a celebrity is the UK is given a lip plumper and paid to post about it on Instagram and proceeds to use Facetune to make her or his lips look bigger this is in direct violation of the ASA ruling and the post will be removed by Instagram and they won’t be able to re-post it. I had fun with this yesterday on Instagram yesterday doing a before and after as seen above!
Who’s the ASA?
ASA stands for Advertising Standards Authority and is the self-regulatory organization of the advertising industry in the United Kingdom.
The #filterdrop revolution was started by UK-based influencer Sasha Pallari several months ago and her call to brands and influencers to start disclosing the use of a filter when promoting products. Her hard work paid off because the ASA listened and made the ruling earlier this week to begin enforcing this law.
If anyone remembers back in 2013 it was ruled that mascara brands, particularly Covergirl, would have to start disclosing when false lashes were used because the ads were so exaggerated it was considered false advertising. Filters are pretty much the same concept. If you’re using a moisturizer that promotes that it will heal acne and skin imperfections while proceeding to be paid about how great it worked for your skin and posting images that filter out redness and blemishes while giving your skin a smooth finish this is in fact misleading and false advertising.
I think many of us are logical enough to realize that the false advertising has been used to sell us products for years now in the beauty industry. Flawless, photoshopped images are pretty much the call of duty in the beauty and fashion world. Many people who are involved in the beauty industry and community have just come to accept it and we know not to base our purchases off these marketing and promotional images. However, younger girls or boys just getting involved with makeup are easily mislead. Filters may be the new norm for making someone look flawless but promotional images that have been photoshopped to death have been around longer.
Will the ruling change the way we beauty in the future? Who knows! It’s interesting to see how this pans out. It could directly impact how products, models, and the beauty industry advertises in the future.
Does the ASA ruling have affect on US Influencers?
No. However, we have seen a variety of different rules and regulations come out of the UK such as privacy laws that have impacted US law. This means there is a chance that the US will start doing something about filters in advertising for US-based influencers, celebs, and brands.
Right now this isn’t something that concerns the US but I have a feeling it might trickle down at some point.
How do you feel about the ASA ruling?
Would you rather seeing perfectly flawless photos in product placement and advertising and live in the illusion that you’ll experience the same if you buy a certain product?
Or do you demand the realness?
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