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- Without further ado: "tongue twisters" and small print will be removed from advertising
Without further ado: "tongue twisters" and small print will be removed from advertising
In Russia, they want to reduce the amount of mandatory information in advertising — the changes will also affect commercials on television and radio. As Izvestia found out, the government supported the relevant bill of the State Duma deputies. It will allow you to transfer some of the information about sellers, organizers, and conditions of contests, promotions, games, and bets from the advertising message to information resources. The new rules will also affect the advertising of goods for remote sale via the Internet. The authors of the initiative believe that this will make advertising clearer and simplify its placement for businesses. Experts warn that if the information extracted from the advertisement is difficult to find, the formally available information may be useless in practice.
Why do the declaimers want to reduce
The Cabinet of Ministers supported the draft law "On Amendments to the Law on Advertising", which will reduce the amount of mandatory information about goods and services directly in advertising. Instead of detailed disclaimers, it is suggested to provide a link to a website where consumers can get acquainted with information about the seller, the terms of promotions, contests, games and bets. This follows from the official response of the government, which is available to Izvestia.
A disclaimer is information in an advertisement that is provided by the seller. In particular, it may contain a list of possible limitations and risks. For example, in advertising medicines — about contraindications, dietary supplements — about the fact that they are not a medicine, financial services — about the risks. In addition, the disclaimer may contain the terms of the promotion or competition, as well as information about the company's registration. Currently, you cannot replace the disclaimer with a link to the website — the warning must be in the advertising text itself. Administrative liability is provided for the absence of a mandatory disclaimer or violation of the requirements for its placement. For legal entities, the fine can reach 500 thousand rubles. The FAS is responsible for monitoring compliance with the requirements for the placement of disclaimers.
"The government supports the bill," says the official response from the Cabinet, which asks the authors of the initiative to finalize the timing of the initiative's entry into force in accordance with federal law.
"Today we often see commercials and banners where the main message is literally lost behind a large volume of mandatory information: the terms of the actions, information about the organizers, registration data and other explanations," Anton Nemkin, one of the authors of the initiative, State Duma deputy, told Izvestia.
According to him, such advertising formally complies with the requirements of the law, but in practice, people often simply do not have time to read or hear it all.
— We propose to change not the amount of mandatory information, but the way it is provided. It is proposed to keep all the necessary information in full, but to post it on the information resource of the seller or the organizer, for example, on the website or the corresponding page," explained Anton Nemkin. — In the advertisement itself, it will be enough to specify a clear link or QR code so that the consumer can familiarize himself with all the details at a convenient time.
At the same time, he stressed that we are not talking about reducing the level of consumer protection.
On the contrary, the task of the draft law is to make information really work, he explained, noting that the bill was developed, among other things, taking into account the appeals of citizens and discussions with the professional community.
Izvestia sent requests to the Cabinet of Ministers with a request to comment on the reasons for supporting the bill, as well as to the Federal Antimonopoly Service.
The pros and cons of the new rules
The problem raised by the authors of the bill is really overdue: declaimers in online advertising are often not perceived by consumers, Oleg Pavlov, head of the Public Consumer Initiative (OPI), told Izvestia.
— They overload the advertising message, merge with the background and do not fulfill their main function — to convey essential information to the person. In conditions of constant "information noise", the consumer is simply unable to read and comprehend these small texts," the human rights activist argues. — Therefore, the very idea of transferring information to a website or application where a product or service is sold looks logical and corresponds to modern digital realities.
However, according to him, simply transferring information is not enough. If you remove the disclaimer from the advertisement, you need to be sure that the consumer can really get all the necessary information quickly and without obstacles on an external resource, Oleg Pavlov notes.
— To do this, it is necessary to legislate the requirements for the visibility and convenience of posting such data. This may include requirements for the structure and markup of websites and mobile application interfaces. The main principle is that by clicking on an advertisement for a product or service and getting to the appropriate page, the consumer should immediately see all the required information or the way to receive it immediately — whether it's a prominent link, button or QR code, - says the head of the OPI.
He also noted that the bill contains an important guarantee.: specifying an unreliable, non-existent, or non-functioning information resource will qualify as an unreliable advertisement. This creates a clear testable criterion and protects the consumer from unscrupulous advertisers. However, according to him, without additional requirements for the availability of information on the resource itself, consumers risk getting a situation where the information is formally available, but it is impossible or extremely difficult to find it.
Izvestia sent requests to the Association of Omnichannel Retail Companies, the Association of Digital Platforms, as well as the largest online trading platforms, asking them to comment on the new rules and their impact on business.
— We support the proposed changes, as they make it possible to adapt the requirements for the remote sale of goods to modern digital formats without reducing the level of consumer protection. Today, excessive disclaimers often overload advertising messages, while placing complete information on a product page or other information resource allows the buyer to receive it in full at a convenient moment," the press service of the combined Wildberries & Rus company told Izvestia.
At the same time, they also noted that responsibility for the accuracy of information remains. This approach allows us to simultaneously make communication with the consumer more understandable and effective and preserve the necessary guarantees for the protection of his rights, the company believes.
— Such a proposal is extremely relevant for the investment industry. We have strict financial legislation requirements regarding informing consumers about risks. Therefore, the volume of mandatory information on advertising media turns out to be very large," Tatyana Trofimova, Deputy General Director for Marketing at Accent investment Group, told Izvestia.
According to her, today the disclaimer can occupy a significant part of the advertising medium, and the text has to be small enough to accommodate all the necessary reservations, which makes it almost impossible to perceive it.
— In addition, digital advertising also has technical problems: advertising platforms and automatic placement tools may incorrectly display or reduce the amount of mandatory information, but the responsibility for its completeness ultimately remains with the advertiser, — said the representative of the business.
The ability to transfer detailed information to an official resource, leaving a short, clear warning and link in the advertisement, seems to be a much more effective solution, Tatiana Trofimova believes.
The new rules will have a positive impact on the advertising market, as ads can be made shorter and more visible, Mikhail Kakoba, a lawyer at the Adspector advertising agency, told Izvestia.
— This can especially change the online advertising of goods: instead of the seller's details in the ad, you can specify a resource with this data. Indeed, in some cases, additional information could take up to half of the entire creative," the business representative noted.
In his opinion, it will also become easier for promotions and games to formulate a reference to the rules and prizes. For consumers, the advantage is that the details will remain available in a more detailed form, thereby they will have a more complete picture of the advertised product, Mikhail Kakoba believes. However, he agrees that the disadvantage may be the inconvenience that consumers will have to monitor such information more closely. If the link is inconvenient, the site is unavailable, or the terms are difficult to find, the information will become less practical, even if it is formally posted, the industry representative believes.
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