Affiliates, Avatars And Gifts: Canada Updates Influencer Disclosure Guidelines

Ad Standards (the self-regulatory body for Canada's advertising industry) recently released their Fall 2023 update to their Influencer Marketing Disclosure Guidelines. These Guidelines were initially released in 2018 and previously updated back in Fall 2020.

A copy of the 2023 Influencer Disclosure Guidelines can be found here.

Although the general substance of the Guidelines largely remain the same, in the most recent update, there are a few noteworthy changes. For example:

• The "Affiliate Marketing" section has been revised to clarify that using '#Ad' may not be appropriate where an affiliate link is provided, and hashtags like '#CompanyPartner' would be clearer.
• Instead of providing examples and best practices for disclosure based on specific popular social media platforms (i.e., TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter), the updated Guidelines provide specific examples and best practices for disclosure based on post type (i.e., static posts,