How ASCI’s Relaxed Rules are Shaping the Future of Influencer Marketing in India

Influencer marketing in India has been a game-changer for brands across various sectors, especially health, finance, and nutrition. However, as influencer marketing has grown, so has the need for clear guidelines to ensure transparency and protect consumers.

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has been a key player in setting these standards. Recently, ASCI introduced revised guidelines that ease qualification requirements for health, finance, and nutrition influencers. This shift marks a significant change in the influencer landscape and has the potential to reshape how brands and influencers collaborate in the future.

On the other hand, the European Union is stepping up enforcement to ensure that influencers and brands remain compliant with advertising standards, potentially reshaping the landscape of influencer-driven promotions. The European Commission launched the Influencer Legal Hub, a comprehensive resource offering guidance on how to comply with EU consumer protection laws.

While these moves are more stringent compared to ASCI's relaxed stance, both regions aim to streamline the influencer marketing industry—ASCI's guidelines making it easier for influencers to create content without the stress of constantly showcasing their qualifications, and the EU ensuring transparency and accountability across the board. These developments highlight the global trend of establishing clear rules that safeguard both influencers and consumers.

The Shift in Influencer Marketing Standards

ASCI’s previous guidelines required influencers in the health, finance, and nutrition sectors to disclose their qualifications, even when promoting products or services in a non-technical or general manner. This created a barrier for influencers who wanted to promote relevant products but didn’t have the required certifications, even if their content was more about awareness or personal experience than expert advice.

With the new update, ASCI has drawn a clearer distinction between technical advice and general promotional content. Now, influencers no longer need to disclose qualifications unless they are offering technical advice.

For example, health influencers can now promote products related to wellness and general health without having to constantly display their credentials. A fitness influencer can endorse a fitness program or a meal plan without needing a nutrition certification, provided they’re not offering specific advice like meal dosage or recommending particular supplements.

This change comes as a much-needed relief for influencers, as it allows them to focus on promoting products without the constant pressure of qualification checks, while also ensuring that technical advice is still backed by expertise.

How ASCI’s Revised Guidelines Impact Influencers

The update to ASCI’s guidelines gives influencers in the health, finance, and nutrition sectors much more freedom in content creation. This shift opens up more opportunities for influencers to engage with brands in these regulated sectors, as it allows for more creative and authentic content. Influencers can now focus on what they do best—connecting with their audiences and sharing experiences—without being bogged down by compliance requirements for every single post.

This change also helps streamline campaign planning for agencies, making it easier to execute campaigns without excessive checks for qualification compliance.

Implications for Brands and Agencies

ASCI’s revised guidelines offer significant benefits for both brands and agencies, particularly those in the highly regulated sectors of health, finance, and nutrition. By relaxing qualification rules, brands can now engage a broader spectrum of influencers, making influencer collaborations more accessible, efficient, and cost-effective.

For brands, this flexibility enables smoother campaign execution, greater creative freedom, and faster rollouts. Agencies, on the other hand, can streamline their processes and focus on delivering high-impact campaigns without the additional burden of compliance checks for every influencer’s qualifications.

Key benefits include:

• Wider Influencer Pool: Brands can partner with more influencers, including those without formal certifications, as long as they’re not providing technical advice.
• Cost-Effective Collaborations: Collaborating with a broader range of influencers allows brands to be more flexible in budget allocation, tapping into a wider range of creator levels.
• Faster Campaign Execution: Agencies can move more quickly by reducing the need for lengthy qualification verifications, accelerating campaign timelines.
• Increased Creativity: With fewer compliance restrictions, brands can focus more on creative strategy, leading to more engaging and authentic campaigns.
• Broader Reach: The relaxed guidelines enable brands to connect with a wider audience through influencers from diverse backgrounds and expertise levels, expanding their reach and impact.

This shift will likely open up new opportunities for brands to leverage influencer marketing in a more dynamic and cost-efficient way, while ensuring that the content remains authentic and aligned with the brand’s values.

Encouraging Authenticity in Influencer Content

One of the biggest wins of ASCI’s revised rules is the encouragement of more authentic content. By separating general endorsements from expert advice, ASCI is fostering a more genuine approach to influencer marketing. Instead of forcing influencers to present themselves as certified experts, influencers can now communicate in a more relatable, real-world manner. This authenticity is what resonates most with audiences today, who value transparency and honesty from the people they follow.

The guidelines also allow for greater creativity in content. Influencers no longer have to overthink whether their promotional content is considered "advice" and can instead focus on crafting content that feels natural and engaging. This flexibility is likely to lead to more diverse content, as influencers are encouraged to collaborate on product promotions in a more organic way.

A Balanced Move by ASCI?

ASCI’s decision to ease the qualification rules strikes a balance between accountability and creativity. By ensuring that technical advice still requires appropriate qualifications, ASCI maintains consumer protection, particularly in the sensitive sectors of health and finance. At the same time, the guidelines allow influencers to engage in more diverse and authentic conversations without the need to prove their expertise at every turn.

The updated rules also recognize the evolving nature of influencer marketing. As the industry matures, influencer content is becoming less about flashy endorsements and more about long-term relationships, education, and storytelling. ASCI’s revised guidelines allow influencers to focus on building these relationships and sharing personal insights, rather than constantly needing to prove their credentials.

About the Author

Kalin Anastasov

Writer

Kalin Anastasov plays a pivotal role as an content manager and editor at Influencer Marketing Hub. He expertly applies his SEO and content writing experience to enhance each piece, ensuring it aligns with our guidelines and delivers unmatched quality to our readers.