According to an article by Cosmetics Business, The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ordered beauty brands and influencers to stop using ‘misleading’ filters in social media campaigns.
The standards watchdog has concluded that filters should not be applied to promote a beauty item, as this could exaggerate its efficacy. It passed rulings on three influencer posts, in which the subjects used a filter to exaggerate their appearance for brands.
The two beauty brands were found breaching these rules while promoting their tanning products. One advert used Perfect Tan’ filter, while another applied the ‘Yourbeauty by giogiopivaa_’ filter, both of which the ASA deemed to be misleading as it exaggerated the products’ efficacy.
In the future, ads that do not comply with this new rule will be removed and prohibited from appearing again.
“An ongoing focus of our work in this area continues to be on raising awareness of the rules and supporting influencers with the guidance and tools they need to help get their ads right,” an ASA spokesperson told the BBC. “We’re also working closely with the social media platforms who can and will enforce our rulings where an advertiser is unwilling or able to work with us.”
The ASA’s new guidelines on production technique are in response to the #filterdrop campaign, which was started by makeup artist, Sasha Pallari, in July last year in an effort to encourage brands and individuals to ditch the filters, especially when advertising a beauty product.
“#Filterdrop was created as an extension of everything I believe in for beauty,” Pallari said in an Instagram post. “I’ve worked in this industry for almost 10 years and with this campaign I’ve changed how it will be seen online… Six months ago I spoke to the ASA about the damage of these filters as I felt there needed to be stricter guidelines around how products and cosmetics were advertised online.”
Although Pallari is thrilled with the new legislation, she knows this is “only the start” and that there are a lot of other important things that still need to be changed online.
