Influencer ad labelling in the UK: what a brand must make sure every post says

CAP's advice is broad on purpose. Whenever a brand gives an influencer a payment or any other incentive, requested or unsolicited, or the influencer is otherwise personally or commercially connected to the brand as an owner, employee, shareholder or director, any content featuring or referring to the brand must be obviously identifiable as advertising. That requirement comes from consumer protection law, enforced by the CMA and Trading Standards, and where the brand also has editorial control the ASA acts under the CAP Code.

Affiliate marketing is included: a creator earning commission from a personalised link or code is an advertiser for any content that refers to the product. An influencer promoting their own brand or a collaboration is within the Code as well. And when an advertorial breaches the Code, the ASA names both the influencer and the brand in its ruling.

The ASA's research found that people struggle to tell influencer ads from ordinary posts, so at a minimum it expects a prominent Ad label up front, usually at the beginning. The audience should recognise advertising immediately, without clicking or needing special knowledge. The label must be noticeable on desktop, mobile and in app.

Placement failures the ASA has ruled on include a label buried in a list of hashtags, a label in a colour that contrasts poorly with the background, and a label placed under the fold where a reader would need to tap See more. On autoplaying video the label needs to appear right at the start.

The CAP Code names Advertisement Feature as an acceptable label for advertorial, and Ad, Advert, Advertising and Ad Feature are very likely to be accepted, with or without a hash. Beyond those, the record is unforgiving.

Sponsored is advised against because readers interpret it in different ways. Supported by, funded by, gifted, in association with and thanks to have been found insufficient. Brand ambassador and branded ambassador hashtags failed to convey the nature of the content. My collection, we created together and I work with have fallen short in most contexts. Abbreviations such as aff, sp and spon, and the word affiliate itself, are unlikely to be understood. An @ mention of the brand is no label at all, and a personalised discount code, on its own, has been ruled insufficient in a run of cases.

Platform tools help without settling it. Instagram's paid partnership label may be sufficient when it is upfront, clear and prominent, and the ASA's 2026 research found it helps people recognise ads but may be insufficient on its own; where it is obscured or unclear, an extra Ad label belongs beside it.

Brands sometimes treat labelling as the creator's housekeeping. The ASA treats it as joint, and the ruling carries the brand's name. A creator's missing label becomes the brand's public finding.

There is an upside. A brand that labels cleanly and briefs creators to speak plainly reads as trustworthy next to competitors who hide the arrangement. Trust is the whole point of using a creator in the first place; a buried label spends it.