Taking the biscuit: Exploring influencers, advertising, and regulation

Citation

MacRury I (2021) Taking the biscuit: Exploring influencers, advertising, and regulation. In: Yesiloglu S & Costello J (eds.) Influencer Marketing: Building Brand Communities and Engagement. London: Routledge, pp. 250-270. https://www.routledge.com/Influencer-Marketing-Building-Brand-Communities-and-Engagement/Yesiloglu-Costello/p/book/9780367338688

Abstract
This chapter explores unevenness in the scope and application of regulatory principles in respect of influencers when compared to the regulations governing advertising, especially broadcast advertisements. The regulatory principles guiding analysis in this discussion are UK-based, largely reflecting the UK Advertising Standards Authority’s (ASA) articulations of codes and practices set out in the CAP (Codes of Advertising Practice). Similar codes operate in different national jurisdictions. However, the “borderless” character of internet communications, and, conversely, the primary national and territorial frame of regulatory regimes, taken together, constitute just one challenge in the task of containing influencers’ contributions within the principled frames of socially alert promotional communications. This chapter uses the case of FGTeeV on YouTube and explores how influencers would be governed if treated as advertisements.