New regulations by the Advertising Standards Authority

27/06/2011

From 1 March 2011, the ASA now regulates all advertisements and marketing communications placed on websites and other non-paid for space.
And importantly if user generated content is adopted and in use for marketing purposes it is now captured by the CAP Code - this change is particularly important for social commerce sites to be aware.

The success of social commerce is dependent on social interaction and user contributions to assist the buying and selling of products and services online – it is arguable that user contributions  assist others to make a purchasing decision and therefore would be deemed to be a ‘marketing communication’ and captured  by CAP Code.
 
If your brand uses user-generated content for social commerce you most likely need to ensure that any such user-generated content complies with the Code’s rules and principles - fundamentally this means that the content needs to be legal, decent, honest and true. 



Some Tips to Ensure CAP Code Compliance of User-Generated Content:

• Be sure not to inadvertently endorse inaccurate claims by users.
• Ensure any re-tweets of offers are relevant and true.
• Ensure moderation is sensitive to removing all negative content.
• Do not censor reviews.
• Take steps to prevent astro-turfing and fake reviews.
• Make sure any reviews adopted into your own marketing communications have been verified and can be substantiated.

For more information check the ASA website here.



About the author:
Kate Atkin is a partner at the boutique media law firm M Law (www.mlaw.co.uk).
Kate has extensive legal expertise advising businesses in the field of digital and new media, online marketing and social media and has navigated early adopters through the rapidly changing landscape.
Kate believes that sound and practical legal advice is a pre-requisite to maximising opportunity in the online environment.