Rules and ethics
Part of Advertising creative tools rules and ethics
Writing a disclosure policy that starts with whether people will recognise the advert
Build a disclosure policy for ads, creator partnerships and AI-assisted imagery by linking labels to audience understanding and actual risk.
A useful policy tells a maker when a disclosure is needed, what misunderstanding it addresses and who approves the result. It should not demand the same label on every file. Nor should it treat a label as permission to publish something that is misleading in substance.
What to take away
- Start by asking whether a viewer would recognise the commercial nature without opening a caption or knowing the account history.
- A disclosure policy needs separate branches for commercial relationships, material representations and internal production records.
- Test the impression the words and picture create together before approving a label.
- Log exceptions and review dates so one unusual case does not quietly become a reusable preset.
Ask first whether people will recognise advertising
Start with the served communication and its surrounding content. Would a viewer understand its commercial nature immediately, without opening a caption or knowing the account history? The CAP Code's recognition rules (rules 2.1 and 2.3) require marketing communications to be obviously identifiable and address advertisement features. Record the format, commercial relationship, proposed marker and placement.
Is the advert recognisable?
Would a viewer understand its commercial nature immediately?
Record format, relationship, marker and placement
Add a clear disclosure marker before or with the impression
For creator or affiliate content, route the job through the ASA and CAP influencer resource hub. The ASA and CAP influencer resource hub covers disclosure, affiliate marketing and social advertising for influencers, brands and agencies. Test the first view, short-form video and any repost separately. A disclosure stored in a template can disappear under controls or outside a crop.
Decide whether an altered image changes the claim
Write the impression a reasonable audience could take from the words and picture together. If generated or retouched material depicts a product result, customer, event, location or endorsement, ask whether viewers may treat the depiction as evidence. Disclosure cannot cure an image that communicates a false result.
Does altered imagery change the claim?
Could viewers treat the depiction as evidence?
Disclosure cannot cure a false result
Ask whether non-disclosure is likely to mislead
CAP's 2025 article on AI disclosure in advertising sets out the test for when a label may help and when omission could mislead.
Choose wording and position from the risk
Use plain language that identifies the commercial or representational fact the audience needs. Place it where it is seen before or with the relevant impression. Do not rely on colour alone, faint type, an unexplained abbreviation or a destination-page note to repair the creative.
Three disclosure policy branches
Commercial relationship
- When it applies
- Context not obvious
- Audience sees it
- Yes
- What it covers
- Advertising or affiliate
- Placement
- Before or with impression
Material representation
- When it applies
- Omission could mislead
- Audience sees it
- Yes
- What it covers
- Synthetic or altered
- Placement
- Before or with impression
Production record
- When it applies
- Always internal
- Audience sees it
- No
- What it covers
- AI assistance and rights
- Placement
- Internal log
For a paid partnership, a first-frame card reading "Paid partnership with [brand]" and the same wording at the start of the caption is one option. For affiliate content, "Ad: affiliate link" directly above the link can identify the relationship before the click.
Keep three separate policy branches:
Choose wording and position
- Commercial relationship:identify advertising or affiliate content when the context would not make it obvious.
- Material representation:explain synthetic or altered content when omission could create a misleading belief.
- Production record:document AI assistance, rights checks and approvals internally even when no public AI label is required.
This separation prevents an internal provenance record from being mistaken for an audience disclosure.
Test the output, then preserve the decision
Preview every important size and interface state. Ask a reviewer who did not build the asset what the item is, who is communicating and what the picture proves. This is a comprehension check, not population research. Commission appropriate audience work where the decision depends on broader interpretation.
Add an exceptions route rather than letting unusual cases bypass the policy. The request should describe the audience impression, reason standard wording is unsuitable, proposed alternative, placement and expiry. A named reviewer accepts or rejects it before release. Log the decision so that one exception does not quietly become a reusable preset.
Example: a live stream with a sponsor logo behind the presenter might request wording in the pinned comment instead of an on-screen card, with expiry when the campaign ends. The reviewer approves it because the logo and spoken mention already appear before the offer, and sets the review date for after the campaign ends.
Set a review date based on likely change. Recheck sooner when a platform alters its interface, a partnership changes, new regulator guidance appears or a synthetic technique creates a different representation. Retire old presets that cannot be connected to a current rationale.
Save the published version, label rationale, relationship details, asset provenance and reviewer. Reopen the decision after edits, new placements or changed platform controls. A qualified advertising reviewer should handle uncertainty, especially for children, endorsements, regulated products or imagery that purports to demonstrate performance.
Before you act
- Name the commercial relationship and the audience impression the item could create.
- Choose marker wording and first placement, then test the smallest served size and a repost.
- Send exceptions to the named reviewer with proposed wording, placement, expiry and the reason standard wording fails.
- Set a review date tied to platform changes, partnership terms or new guidance, and store the approved record.
Common questions
When is a public AI label not required in UK advertising?
CAP's 2025 article on AI disclosure in advertising says the codes contain no AI-specific rules and there is no blanket UK legal requirement to disclose AI use in every advert. It asks whether non-disclosure is likely to mislead and whether the disclosure clarifies rather than contradicts the message. Platform policies and overseas rules may still impose different requirements.
What should an exceptions request contain?
Use the exceptions route above. It lists the audience impression, reason standard wording is unsuitable, proposed alternative, placement and expiry, and names the reviewer who approves or rejects it.
What should be saved alongside the published version?
Keep the record named in Test the output above: published version, label rationale, relationship details, provenance and reviewer. Reopen the decision after edits, new placements or changed platform controls.
