Mars ruling to spark Twitter chaos

The ad watchdog’s decision to sanction Mars’ Twitter campaign has muddied the marketing waters and could lead to chaos as brands push the creative boundaries of celebrity endorsement on social media.
That is according to communications law expert Danvers Baillieu of Pinsent Masons, who says the ruling goes against previous guidance on advertising on Twitter.
Previously it was stated that all marketing messages should be flagged up with the ‘#ad’ or ‘#spon’ tag – not just the last message, as was the case with the Rio Ferdinand and Katie Price-backed Snickers campaign.
Baillieu said: “Ferdinand and Price’s ‘followers’ would have known their messages were out of character but would not have associated it with a marketing campaign until they re-read them in conjunction with the final posting.
“By saying that the lead-up messages were marketing messages but did not need to be labelled, the Advertising Standards Authority has created uncertainty over when social media postings need to be labelled as promotions.
“The ruling also somewhat contradicts previous guidance advertising bodies have issued that Twitter users paid to promote products in ‘tweets’ should be told by marketers to use ‘#ad’ to tell readers about any paid-for promotions.”
Baillieu believes the ruling means that companies do not necessarily have to label all marketing messages. He predicted: “I think it will lead to a rush of creativity from advertisers on how to push the boundaries of what constitutes acceptable promotions on social media.”

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