The debate about paid for content for Youtube videos has been going on for a while now, either in the background or prominently depending on whose content you follow and consume (TotalBiscuit for example has been very vocal recently). Now one campaign has made the Advertising Standards Authority in the UK sit up and take notice.
Oreo has recently been getting UK-based vlogger Youtubers to take part in the "Oreo Lick Race" promotion, and a complaint was filed to the ASA by a BBC journalist when doubt was raised over whether the content could be seen as an advert or if it misled viewers into thinking it was just a normal video. The content creators involved include AmazingPhil, TomSka, Emma Blackery and PJ Ligouri and has since been banned in its current form by the ASA.
Mondelez, the combination of Kraft and Cadbury and the company who paid the Youtubers said that the videos were not supposed to be misleading. They had given a brief to each Youtuber, making it clear that they needed to make it clear that the videos were promotional. They were to say in the video that they were working with Oreo, had been paid for the content and were to include a disclaimer in the description box that the video was paid for.
However the ASA disagreed stating that the videos in question did not differ significantly enough from the content creators' usual fare that it was clear they were promotional. They also state that end-of-video disclosure was not significant enough disclosure about the nature of this type of content.
“Because the statements did not fully establish the commercial intent of the videos, and because no disclosures were made before consumer engagement with the material, we concluded that the ads were not obviously identifiable as marketing communications,” the ASA concluded. “The ads must not appear again in their current form. We told Mondelez UK to ensure that future ads in this medium made their commercial intent clear prior to consumer engagement.”
From now on, UK-based video makers must make it clear that the content is promotional beyond all reasonable doubt - this goes for vloggers and also for those of us making gameplay content. Fail to disclose and the ASA say they will be getting involved.