Recognisability of advertising in vlogs

Vlogger Monica Geuze talks about the brand À la in one of her vlogs and unpacks a parcel of this brand in front of the camera: "They have now sent a parcel with, I think, a lot of super cute things". A complainant states that the vlog is not recognisable as advertising. According to the Advertising Code Committee, by using those words, the vlogger made it sufficiently clear that she received the parcel free of charge from À la. Therefore, the advertising as such is recognisable. "They have now sent a parcel" is in fact considered to be a variation of the suggestions in the explanatory memorandum of Article 3 of the Advertising Code on Social Media and is similar to: "I received these products from [advertiser]" and "Thank you [advertiser] for sending me these products".

The vlogger and À la have not been proven right on all counts. They argued that this instance is not an 'advertisement' at all, and that there is no Relevant Relation that proves it. The Advertising Code Committee does consider this an advertisement for À la, because the parcel was sent to the vlogger with a commercial purpose and it was enthusiastically advertised in the vlog. The Relevant Relation is shown by the fact that the free parcel was only sent to influencers. The fact that À la and the vlogger didn't agree on anything about the sent parcel doesn't matter.

An important lesson from this decision is that even if a parcel is sent free of charge and no agreements have been made about the use of the parcel and its content, it may be an advertisement and there may be a Relevant Relation. However, the Advertising Code Committee provides an opening for filling in ‘recognisability’. It is sufficient when the vlogger says: "[Advertiser] has sent a parcel".

Myrna Teeuw, student-trainee