Fifteen new signatories, including the likes of Estée Lauder and Giffgaff, have thrown their weight behind the Influencer Marketing Code of Conduct.
ISBA and the Influencer Marketing Trade Body (IMTB) have announced a wave of 15 new brand signatories to the Influencer Marketing Code of Conduct.
New signatories to the code – the fourth iteration of which was released in November – include Sainsbury’s, John Lewis, Asda, Domino’s, Estée Lauder, Giffgaff and HSBC. Previous signatories include Costa Coffee, Direct Line Group and Lidl GB.
The code was first launched in 2021 with just 10 signatories. The introduction of 15 new signatories, up 68% in the space of a month, takes the total number of brand supporters to 37.
Alongside brands, creators including Gemma Styles, as well as agencies such as Ogilvy and Billion Dollar Boy, have expressed their support for the code as signatories.
The ambition of the Influencer Marketing Code of Conduct is to “drive transparency for consumers, effectiveness for brands and wellbeing for influencers”, ensuring “responsible marketing”.
Sub-sections in the code include commitments to not use misleading photo filters, zero tolerance of hate speech and a promise for brands to carry out due diligence of influencers.
The code has previously received support from government, with Creative Industries Minister Sir Chris Bryant calling the new signatories “great progress”.
“This goes to the core of the mission of the Government’s Online Advertising Taskforce of improving trust in adverts, and I would encourage more agencies, brands and influencers to sign up,” says Bryant.
Brands have switched on in recent years to the benefits and challenges of working with influencers. According to research published earlier this month by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the overall rate of ad disclosure in influencer marketing is still below where the regulator expects it to be.
According to the report, approximately 57% of influencer content on Instagram and TikTok in the UK would likely be adequately disclosed as advertising in compliance with the ASA code.
However, 34% of influencer ads made no disclosure at all, while 9% did attempt to use a disclosure label, but the language used failed to make the commercial nature of the content clear. Fashion and travel are the worst sectors, with over half of the ads analysed either undisclosed or inadequately disclosed.
Director-general of the Influencer Marketing Trade Body, Scott Guthrie, previously told Marketing Week that “industry-led solutions”, such as the code of conduct, are the solution for influencer regulation.
His goal for the IMTB is to “demonstrate that responsible influencer marketing is a revenue generator”.
