The government has tightened norms for endorsers, including celebrities and sportspersons, as they are now required to make material connection disclosures and undertake due diligence while doing advertisements.

According to new guidelines released by the Consumer Affairs Ministry on Friday, endorsements must reflect the honest opinions, belief or experience of the endorsers. The endorsers have to make material connection disclosures and failing to do so will attract penalty under the Consumer Protection Act (CPA). Material disclosures mean any relationship that materially affects the weight or credibility of any endorsement which a reasonable consumer would not expect.

“If there exists a connection between the endorser and the trader, manufacturer or advertiser of the endorsed product that might materially affect the value or credibility of the endorsement and the connection is not reasonably expected by the audience, such connection shall be fully disclosed in making the endorsement," the guidelines said.

Violation of these guidelines will attract a penalty of Rs. 10 lakh for the first offence and Rs. 50 lakh for the subsequent offence, under the CPA. The new guidelines “Prevention of misleading advertisements and necessary due diligence for endorsement of advertisements”, which came into effect on June 10, 2022, have been issued to prevent misleading advertisements.

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