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With the emergence of new sectors in the digital economy, the ministries and several regulatory bodies have also sharpened their focus on those sectors. It is no surprise that advertisements in such sectors have also come under the scanner of the self-regulatory body Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI). As digital medium remained in sharp focus for ASCI’s Annual Complaints report 2021-2022, crypto and gaming emerged as some of the top categories that violated the ASCI guidelines.

Out of the 5,532 total ads processed between April 2021-March 2022, nearly 48% of them belonged to the digital medium. Among these objectionable digital ads, 43% were published on Instagram, 28% on YouTube, 18% on websites, 6% on Twitter and 3% on Facebook. 

“2021-22 was the year we followed through on our promise of increasingly monitoring the digital media given the way it has been dominating the advertising landscape. We invested heavily in technology and that has worked quite well. We also upgraded our complaints system which has made it very easy for consumers to register their complaints and for advertisers to respond to it,” Subhash Kamath, chairman of ASCI said.

In the last couple of years, the advertisers have increased their spends on digital medium significantly. According to a GroupM report published earlier this year, digital ad spend is set to overtake TV in 2022, accounting for 45% share of the total ad pie.

Crypto And Gaming Remain Talk Of The Town

At a time when advertisers are gradually moving to digital media, a number of new categories are also emerging in the digital segment who are aggressively increasing their marketing spends.

After a speedy surge in the number of crypto users and overall crypto investments in India, crypto exchanges went bullish on marketing. Going beyond the usual performance marketing, they even spent on traditional mediums such as TV, associated with tentpole properties on TV and digital. However, the ad spend from crypto has plummeted given the market instability and regulatory uncertainty. 

On the other hand, real money gaming has also started spending on marketing including multimedia campaigns and brand endorsements. According to a recent report by EY and FICCI, the online gaming segment grew 28% in 2021 to reach INR 101 Bn with real-money gaming accounting for more than 70% of segment revenues.

Along with traditional segments such as personal care, food and beverages, crypto and online real money gaming saw the greatest increases in ads processed at ASCI compared to the previous year. In addition, ecommerce also found a place in the top ten most complained about categories. 

While crypto and gaming accounted for 8% each of total ads processed, ecommerce accounted for 4%. As per the ASCI report, 95% of virtual digital asset (VDA) ads and 94% of gaming ads that were complained about, needed modifications.

ASCI guidelines on real-money gaming came into effect on December 15 2020. According to the guidelines, any such gaming advertisements can’t be aimed at minors, can’t present gaming as a source of livelihood or link it to success.

Earlier this year, the self regulatory body released guidelines for crypto entities and other virtual digital assets including non-fungible token (NFT). One of the guidelines mandates a disclaimer for all such ads: “Crypto products and NFTs are unregulated and can be highly risky. There may be no regulatory recourse for any loss from such transactions.” 

Influencer Marketing Comes Under ASCI Scanner

Meanwhile, influencer marketing has also seen a number of complaints for violating guidelines. The complaints against influencers constituted 29% of the total grievances for the year. Crypto, personal care and fashion were top three categories to see influencer violations.

In 2021, ASCI released the first set of guidelines for influencer marketing in India for “consumers to distinguish between something that is promoted with an intention to influence consumers’ opinion or behaviour for an immediate or commercial gain.” 

Earlier this year, ASCI agreed to accept paid partnership tags on Instagram as an adequate disclosure for influencer advertising. The paid partnership tag that influencers carry in their advertorial posts on Instagram meets the principles of the ASCI guidelines for influencer advertising on digital media, the regulatory body added.

Recently, influencer marketing has been dragged in a few controversies highlighting its flip sides. For example, social commerce platform Meesho sent legal notices to certain social media influencers for allegedly orchestrating negative campaigns against the startup.