It’s not difficult to declare ADs so why are so many bloggers still failing to do so?

Today is one of my first posts back to blogging after the birth of my son and it’s one of those blogs that my brain has been forcing me to write, despite the fact I really should be spending the time my baby is asleep sleeping myself! A few months ago, amongst the hysteria, I posted a blog post explaining the new ASA guidance and why declaring ads on your blog really didn’t have to be complicated but months on, more bloggers than ever just aren’t declaring their content properly. And this week, it was reported that cleaning influencer Mrs Hinch wasn’t doing so either. But why? Hold that thought, the baby is starting to cry, I knew I should have tried to have a nap earlier!

Right, we’re back! As I was saying, the first few weeks of the new guidance, if anything I noticed a bit of annoying overkill. As I said at the time: No, you don’t actually have to use AD if you worked with a brand previously and now just bought something yourself. But there was AD, AD, AD everywhere I looked. Using AD constantly without differentiation doesn’t help anyone in my book-but somewhere along the line, I noticed this changed-and so many bloggers went back to not declaring properly all over again. As if they were hoping we’d forgotten all about it…

It’s not complicated, put it at the FRONT!

Because I’m a nosy person/have no sense of boundaries/don’t know when to stop, I consider finding bloggers who put #ad at the END of a blog post or an Instagram post (or not at all) a rewarding hobby. There are lots of ways to declare your content but the guidance is so bloody clear that it needs to be UPFRONT. It literally says this at the start of the guidance and couldn’t be clearer. It has to go at the FRONT, not the END. Simple.

At first, I thought I’d be nice and let these bloggers politely know it wasn’t properly declared. Cue responses of ‘Oh my goodness, I had no idea!’ or ‘Oh gosh, it’s so confusing, I keep hearing different things!‘ followed by the next post when they did.. EXACTLY THE SAME. Yep, they were so confused they just decided to completely ignore the guidance altogether.

Let’s clear it up: it is NOT that complicated. Yes, there are lots of bloggers weighing in on the issue and declaring in different ways but there IS official guidance that you can clearly read for yourself. And it clearly says ‘UPFRONT’

If you run your blog as a business, to claim you don’t understand and not actively try to educate yourself is simply not good enough. We are constantly going on about bloggers being taken seriously: but if I am being served by a waiter, I expect them to read allergy guidance (And as someone is gluten-free, let me tell you: that really is complicated!). If I am flying on a plane, I expect the pilot to read the ‘how not to crash a plane’ handbook (not an actual book). Because it’s their JOB! So yes, if you blog, I expect you to read the ASA guidance because guess what: it’s your job, or at least your duty, to do so!

Now you might say that a smaller or newer blogger doesn’t do this for a job, but actually, it is the more established bloggers, in my experience, who are continually flouting the rules whilst newer bloggers, in general, have tried their absolute best to declare.

What’s more, newer bloggers have told me how helpful my blog post is when I’ve shared it, whilst more established bloggers seem to read the guidance and turn a blind eye. It’s not complicated, it’s simple: some bloggers just don’t want to declare it.

The white font.

Need further proof that bloggers just simply don’t want to declare their content properly? Enter white font on a white background. Not sure if you need your eyes tested? It’s simple. Head over to an influencer’s Instagram stories. Can you see #gifted or #affliatelink in that tiny, tiny white writing against that white background? Then congratulations, you have supersonic 20/20 vision. If not, don’t worry: neither can 99% of the population.

Now I know some bloggers use lots of hashtags or naturally tag brands in their stories and don’t want to clog up their image and that’s fine to make the font small. However, many bloggers are deliberately doing the bare minimum and declaring their content as ‘ad’ or ‘affiliate’ but in such small font that they deliberately hope their readers will miss it. In other words, the opposite or content being upfront and clear. They are hoping you DON’T notice. They DON’T want to be upfront with you about the arrangement. It’s a choice to mislead readers and this needs to stop.

It’s not gifted, It’s an AD

Many people weren’t happy that ‘AD’ is now needed if an item is provided in exchange for control of the content. If there’s no control, it is suggested you use AD but there’s a range of terms that could be used. Now, I would argue that this is understandable if you’ve been sent a chocolate bar and would prefer to use #gifted rather than #ad. However, I am seeing bloggers posting about trips to the Maldives and Las Vegas in the last week and simply adding at the bottom #presstrip.

Are you expecting me to really believe you’ve been given a free trip in exchange for no expectation of content whatsoever? Of course not, here surely the trip is essentially 100% an equivalent to money for a post?

The ‘I don’t think the rules work so I’m not going to follow them’

This is my personal favourite. I’m seeing a rise in bigger influencers tweeting that they are not happy with the guidelines, they’re not working for them and therefore they’ve decided to do their own version. I mean it LITERALLY doesn’t work like that but okay. Here’s a list of things that don’t work for me.

-My council tax going up every month

-My recycling bin only being collected every two weeks and overflowing all the time.

–Maternity allowance being ridiculously low for those of us self-employed.

-What ever is happening with Brexit.

-I’ve just spent ages filling out like a twenty-page form for child benefit. What a faff.

I mean, I still have to do all those things. I can’t just leave my rubbish in the street or just not pay my council tax. It’s really not up for us to decide whether it is a workable document or not to be honest. Yes, feel free to criticise it (I think the fact you have to use #AD for your own product is a bit shit) but that really doesn’t give you an excuse not to follow it. I don’t care if it’s not working for you, it is literally an industry standard.

Can we continue to support bloggers who don’t declare properly?

Firstly, we should be clear that it’s not just the bloggers that need to be held accountable. Brands are also complicit in this and shouldn’t be approving content that doesn’t declare properly either-as it’s their job too, in the case of Mrs Hinch, Gleam (the agency taking a big cut of her earnings) should be guiding her and ensuring her content is compliant too.

However, I am also making a conscious decision to actively support those disclaiming properly and am starting to unfollow those who don’t time and time again. Recently, someone accused me of being negative and unsupportive of bloggers when I made some comments about the industry, and yes, I do write about calling bloggers out a lot. Like my post on ‘bullshit bloggers.

However, I would argue the opposite. I am not going to blindly support someone just because they’re a blogger. Anyone who knows me knows how much I champion those doing things properly and am always happy to share what I’ve learnt. Those who aren’t disclosing ADs properly are bringing all of us down. They might not make national news like Mrs Hinch (arguably a scapegoat of kind in this case) but they do affect what we do and how bloggers are perceived. But more importantly for me, they also don’t treat us, their readers, with the respect and transparency we deserve. And, in my eyes, regardless of content, that is quickly becoming unforgivable.

s.’