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Irish bloggers will now have to declare when they're promoting a product in their posts

The ASAI aims to ensure that all marketing is easily identifiable from independent editorial content.

THE ADVERTISING STANDARDS Authority for Ireland has issued new guidance for bloggers and online influencers, calling on them to declare their marketing posts so that Irish consumers will not be misled.

The ASAI said that it had “begun monitoring blogs and online channels” and was already communicating with bloggers to remind that them that all marketing communications must be declared.

The aim of these guidelines, it says, are to “ensure that all marketing communications are easily identifiable as being separate to independent editorial content”.

In recent years, blogging has escalated from a pastime into big business, with popular bloggers known as “influencers” able to make thousands of euro every time they post, due to partnerships with brands and businesses.

One such example is Zoella, or Zoe Elizabeth Sugg, a prolific blogger and vlogger who reportedly earns up to €50,000 each month through sponsorship from brands.

Towards the end of last year, the Public Relations Institute of Ireland called for a set of rules to protect consumers from rogue influencers who fail to disclose advertisement payments.

Under the new guidelines proposed by the ASAI, “where celebrities or influencers are sponsored by brands or paid directly to promote a product, it must be clear these posts are marketing communications”.

In order to ensure that this is indeed the case, the ASAI encourages the use of clearly identifiable hashtags such as #Ad or #SP to signify an advertisement or a sponsored post.

ASAI chief executive Orla Twomey said: “The area of influencer marketing has seen a number of in-depth conversations both online and in the media recently as consumers voice their concerns about bloggers who may or may not be declaring marketing communications.

The new ASAI guidelines aim to address these concerns and develop a uniform set of standards applicable to both companies and the bloggers who deliver the marketing communications.

They add that the onus is on the advertiser to ensure that these guidelines are adhered to in sponsored content.

Read: Top Irish PR body seeks to curb rogue ‘influencers’ being paid to sell products and not admitting it

Read: Meet the talent agents that help internet celebrities rake in €50,000 for a single product placement

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32 Comments
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    Mute Max Johnson Powers
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    Jan 24th 2017, 2:33 PM

    No harm. Will the daily edge have to do it when they rave about some random establishment that is clearly an advert?

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    Mute Barry Walsh
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    Jan 24th 2017, 2:41 PM

    @Max Johnson Powers:
    Notions!

    112
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    Mute Qwerty
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    Jan 24th 2017, 2:44 PM

    Irish mammies!

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    Mute Mick Power
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    Jan 24th 2017, 3:12 PM

    Spice bags.

    98
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    Mute Sam
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    Jan 24th 2017, 4:07 PM

    Donuts

    48
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    Mute Daniel Bohan
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    Jan 24th 2017, 5:32 PM

    17 things only people growing up Muckanaghederdauhaulia will understand!

    33
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    Mute Free comment ratings
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    Jan 24th 2017, 7:17 PM

    You know you’re Irish.

    17
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    Mute Danny G
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    Jan 24th 2017, 2:43 PM

    The Cadbury blogger is paid Buttons!

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    Mute James
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    Jan 24th 2017, 3:14 PM

    Could be worse.. he could be the KP blogger who’s paid peanuts…

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    Mute Danny G
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    Jan 24th 2017, 3:29 PM

    Excellent James

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    Mute Danny G
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    Jan 24th 2017, 3:32 PM

    But spare a thought for my mate that was endorsing “plumbing” products and he didnt get a washer!

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    Mute TokezBurke
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    Jan 24th 2017, 4:44 PM

    Or carpenter who got sawd all

    24
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    Mute Aaron Stapleton
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    Jan 24th 2017, 3:15 PM

    Makes you wonder if this will have an impact on the likes of Lovin Dublin / Lovin.ie and their sponsored content. Although, it could mean that we genuinely do find out which place has the best chicken wings, as we will know now whether the top spot will have been bought the next time around.

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    Mute Reuben Gray
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    Jan 24th 2017, 3:22 PM

    @Aaron Stapleton: You won’t find a real blogger telling people where the best chicken wings are. That kind of information is a personal secret to be guarded lest they can’t get a table anymore….. I’ll never spill the beans on my favourite.

    31
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    Mute MyBrokenKnees
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    Jan 24th 2017, 3:01 PM

    Do the copy and paste bloggers who post here for AAA, PBP, HSH etc etc have to declare that they are paid to promote those organisations??

    64
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    Mute Theunpopularpopulist
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    Jan 24th 2017, 3:13 PM

    A friend in mine who works in marketing told me that the biggest cheat with bloggers is the links they post.

    For example if the blogger is wearing a coat that costs €100 and then they post a link to it.

    If you click on that link it saves a cookie on your computer and if you buy that item from that site within 30 days the blogger gets a percentage of the items cost . Up to 50% in some cases.

    How these bloggers claim to be independent baffles me.

    Can’t remember the last time I saw a bad review of any product.

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    Mute Kal Ipers
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    Jan 24th 2017, 3:21 PM

    Not sure it is a cheat as you would need to be an idiot not to know they get a kick back. It also will not be 50% as the margins on a lot of the stuff promoted would be way below that

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    Mute Janine Dolan
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    Jan 24th 2017, 3:24 PM

    @Theunpopularpopulist: It’s called affiliate link ;)

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    Mute Amanda Ní Odhráin
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    Jan 24th 2017, 3:35 PM

    @Theunpopularpopulist: It’s called affiliate marketing and most good bloggers will tell you when affiliate links are present. I’ve never ever heard of any company paying a 50% rate (if I’m wrong correct me). Most companies pay a very low percentage. For example Amazon give 5%.

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    Mute Theunpopularpopulist
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    Jan 24th 2017, 3:35 PM

    I think any so called “review” where the blogger has been given the item for free or gets a so called “kickback” should have to have a disclaimer at the end of it.

    People turned to bloggers initially because of their independence and their honesty.

    Now many very successful bloggers in Ireland never give negative reviews, get given buckets of clothes for free that they then get paid for when other people purchase the same clothing.
    To an adult that may be obvious but not to impressionable teenagers who form a large part of their target market.

    29
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    Mute Janine Dolan
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    Jan 24th 2017, 3:50 PM

    @Theunpopularpopulist: And the disclaimer is included for that for me for three years. The guidelines for that have been in place for years in the UK. Reason why I follow UK bloggers more than Irish bloggers.

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    Mute Reuben Gray
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    Jan 24th 2017, 3:19 PM

    This is Ireland!
    No Irish blogger earns €50k per month. Very few make any money at all.
    Someone who is already a celebrity might be able to command money as an influencer but not someone who just blogs. Some Irish bloggers might make a few hundred euro a month if they are lucky and when I say bloggers, I mean ordinary people who blog and are not already famous. People who have day jobs. There might be a few Irish exceptions who can actually make a living out of blogging but they are very few and nowhere near that €50k figure.

    I have been blogging since late 2008 about beer and have never looked for nor made any money. This Zoella person (never heard of her) appears to be from the UK so has no business being used as an example in a story about guidelines from the the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland.

    I get sent beer samples sometimes. If I write about them, I make it clear that they were sent to me and I’m not always positive about it either.

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    Mute Drew TheChinaman :)
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    Jan 24th 2017, 2:43 PM

    ASAI guidelines are completely voluntary to abide by, so unless their sponsors or marketing companies that are paying them write it into a contract they don’t have to do anything.

    Don’t follow any bloggers or buy anything from a blog, but I’m assuming that the negotiating power lies with the person of ability to influence, they can have their pick of products to endorse and won’t risk their personal reputation to endorse a bad product for money.

    46
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    Mute Janine Dolan
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    Jan 24th 2017, 3:03 PM

    That took them a while. I’ve been declaring that for nearly three years of my blogging.

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    Mute Neal, not Neil.
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    Jan 24th 2017, 2:41 PM

    Ah, that’s bass.

    10
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    Mute Neil Murphy
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    Jan 24th 2017, 4:12 PM

    Hello Neal, not Neil,

    Best regards,
    Neil, not Neal.

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    Mute Neal, not Neil.
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    Jan 24th 2017, 4:18 PM

    That’s your name, don’t wear it out.

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    Mute Eoin Casey
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    Jan 24th 2017, 5:52 PM

    Advertorial content is used as a form of advertising the world over. If you can’t work out that sponsored post means it is for financial benefit to the publisher then you’re not too smart.

    Affiliate blogging yes is big business, but the legitimacy of the site comes with the content, a site with only positive reviews of products with link outs to sign ups or sales pages on every article then yes you can be sure, but you gotta be smart enough to notice this shit.

    Many affiliate bloggers yes do take a cut, but also a lot of them do write honest reviews or articles about the product/service. Reality of situation is this shit wont be enforced and is easy to get around with link cloaking services. Irish regulators are years behind modern affiliate marketing practices

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    Mute why?
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    Jan 24th 2017, 5:18 PM

    regulating “online influencers”.

    jaysus, what’s next? charging people with louder voices each time they give an opinion??

    call me a skeptic, but I literally could not give a fook either way about this one.

    at the very least, a lot of poor, old, unloved blogs might get a few visits each day.

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    Mute Wynnner
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    Jan 24th 2017, 4:46 PM

    Good

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    Mute Peter Buchanan
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    Jan 25th 2017, 9:23 AM

    What about talk show hosts…..

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    Mute Alois Irlmaier
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    Jan 24th 2017, 10:47 PM

    Like KY gel and Garden gnomes lol.

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