ASCI finalizes synthetic advertising guidance
India’s advertising standards body sets disclosure tests for synthetic media and sponsored AI recommendations
ASCI released final guidance for labelling synthetic advertising on September 29. The guidelines take effect three months after publication.
The Advertising Standards Council of India is a voluntary nonprofit body for advertising self regulation. It is not a government agency. Its Code complements legal controls and already has recognition in India’s cable television advertising rules.
When disclosure matters
The guidance covers generated or altered audio and imagery presented as authentic in advertising. Disclosure depends on whether missing it could materially mislead consumers about a product.
Where material, virtual influencers and replicas of consenting people used for personalized messages need labels. Paid product suggestions from AI tools must identify brand sponsorship. Platform labels or accurate custom wording can disclose synthetic content. For sponsored chatbot recommendations, the specified label names the brand. This distinguishes commercial influence from the separate disclosure of synthetic content.
An AI label cannot rescue fabricated endorsements, misleading product results or invented locations presented as real. Unauthorized use of copyrighted works or personal likenesses is also prohibited.
Routine edits, decorative backgrounds, obvious fantasy and accurate accessibility features can avoid labels when they have no material effect on informed choice.
An advertising standard with defined reach
The Code applies to advertisers, agencies and media. Responsibility extends to those who commission, create, place or publish an advertisement, including people assisting its production. It also covers advertisements originating overseas when they target Indian consumers or reach a significant number of them.
Existing truthfulness requirements matter independently of the production method. Factual claims and comparisons must be supported with evidence when ASCI requests it. Ads can mislead through omitted information, implication or exaggeration as well as explicit statements.
Media companies already have to distinguish advertising on their social accounts from editorial material through prominent disclosure. That provides a separate reason to identify commercial content, even when no synthetic imagery is involved.
Archival Kolkata street photograph © Vyacheslav Argenberg, taken on November 13 2009. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. This archival scene illustrates outdoor advertising. Converted to WebP for site delivery.
