Why disclosure rules matter more than most brands realise

We see this constantly in our work with lifestyle, beauty, and FMCG brands: the compliance conversation happens too late. A creator has already posted, the hashtags are buried, and the brand is scrambling to issue corrections. By the time the Reclame Code Commissie (RCC) receives a complaint, the content has already done its damage, both to the audience's trust and to the brand's credibility.

The Dutch Reclamecode Social Media & Influencer Marketing (RSM) governs every influencer collaboration in the Netherlands, and it applies regardless of follower count, platform, or whether the creator received money or just a free product. It covers Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitch, and podcasts. There is no minimum threshold. If there is a commercial relationship, disclosure is mandatory.

This matters for brands operating across the Benelux region, and it matters especially in lifestyle, beauty, and FMCG, where product claims, audience demographics, and creator credibility intersect in ways that regulators are actively watching. The RSM has been updated in 2019 and 2022, and enforcement has intensified each time. Our influencer marketing compliance guide for the Netherlands covers the full regulatory picture, but this article focuses specifically on what is banned, not just what is best practice.

What counts as a banned practice under the RSM?

The RSM prohibits any commercial communication that is not immediately recognisable as advertising. That is the foundational rule. Every banned practice below flows from that principle.

The five categories of banned practice that cause the most problems for lifestyle, beauty, and FMCG campaigns are stealth advertising, misleading product claims, using youth idols to advertise to children under 13, age-restricted products reaching minors, and brands failing their duty of care toward creators. Each carries a different risk profile and requires a different prevention strategy.

Stealth advertising: the most common violation in beauty and lifestyle

Stealth advertising, known as sluikreclame in Dutch, means publishing sponsored content without making the commercial relationship immediately obvious. It is the single most common violation we encounter.

A beauty influencer posting a skincare flatlay with no #ad, no #samenwerking, and no brand tag is breaking the RSM, even if the product was gifted rather than paid for. An FMCG brand sending free samples and hoping creators present them as personal recommendations is also in breach, and the brand is liable, not just the creator.

The disclosure must appear at the top of the post, not buried in a caption or hidden behind a "more" fold. On video content, it must be stated verbally and shown on screen. "Ad" or "sponsored" in a list of fifteen hashtags does not meet the standard.

The Dutch government's guidance on social media advertising rules (Ondernemersplein, updated 2025) is explicit: the commercial nature must be clear to every viewer before they engage with the content. If a reasonable person could mistake it for organic content, it fails.

Misleading product claims: a specific risk for beauty and FMCG

Advertising content cannot make false or unsubstantiated claims about a product's properties, effectiveness, or ingredients. In beauty and FMCG, this is where brands most often create legal exposure without realising it.

Claiming a product is "100% natural" without evidence, describing a food product as "healthy" when it does not meet nutritional criteria, or implying clinical efficacy for a skincare product that has no peer-reviewed backing — all of these violate the RSM's prohibition on misleading advertising. They also breach the EU's Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD), which gives the RSM violations a cross-border legal dimension.

The practical fix is pre-approval. Every claim that appears in creator content, whether scripted or improvised, needs to be reviewed against the brand's substantiation file before the content goes live. This is not optional for beauty and FMCG. It is the baseline.

Youth idols in advertising: the strictest rule in the RSM

Since the 2022 update to the RSM, using youth idols or influencers popular with children in advertising directed at under-13s is completely prohibited. For the 13–16 age bracket, influencers may only be used for products that meet tightened nutritional criteria.

This rule catches brands that are not deliberately targeting children but whose creator choices mean they reach them anyway. A TikTok creator with a predominantly teenage audience promoting a sugary snack or a beauty product aimed at young skin is a compliance risk, even if the brand's campaign brief said nothing about children.

The DDMA's 2022 update to the food advertising code confirmed that this restriction applies across all formats: social media posts, packaging, and point-of-sale material. Enforcement here is the most consistent of any RSM category. If a complaint is filed, an RCC ruling is close to certain.

Before any creator is briefed, audience demographics need to be verified. If more than a meaningful share of a creator's audience is under 16, and the product category carries any restriction, that creator is not the right fit regardless of their engagement rate.

Age-restricted products and inadequate audience targeting

Advertising for alcohol, online gambling, and prescription medicines cannot reach minors, and the brand is responsible for ensuring it does not. Choosing a creator whose audience skews young, or activating on a platform where minors are the majority user base, is not a defence.

An alcohol brand working with an influencer whose audience is 60% under 18 is in breach regardless of the creator's own age. The Commissariaat voor de Media (CvdM) monitors this alongside the RCC, which means enforcement can come from two directions simultaneously.

For lifestyle and FMCG brands, the practical implication is that audience demographic data needs to be part of every creator brief and contract, not just follower count and engagement rate. Our cross-border compliance guide covers how these rules interact when campaigns run across multiple markets.

The brand's duty of care: why your contract is your liability shield

Brands that have a "relevant relationship" with a creator are legally responsible for ensuring that creator understands and complies with the RSM. This is the rule that most marketing teams underestimate.

Sending a product with a brief that says nothing about disclosure requirements, running a campaign without content pre-approval, or failing to include RSM compliance clauses in creator contracts — all of these expose the brand to joint liability for the creator's violations. The Dutch parliament's 2024 document on the RSM (Tweede Kamer, 2024D46983) is explicit that the advertiser's duty of care extends to monitoring published content, not just briefing creators before they post.

The minimum contractual protections are: an explicit RSM compliance clause, a definition of how the commercial relationship must be disclosed, a pre-approval step before publication, and a clear statement that the creator is responsible for their own additional violations. Without these, the brand absorbs the creator's risk.

When we build creator partnerships for brands, compliance architecture is part of the brief, not an afterthought. The Pearle x Hailey Bieber campaign we ran with creator Nina de Wal is a clear example: the content integrated the Hailey Bieber x Vogue Eyewear collection naturally into outfit contexts while meeting every RSM requirement, and the result was 90.5K views and 5,241 likes across just two deliverables, with zero compliance issues.

How to avoid these violations in practice

The five banned practices above each have a practical prevention step:

• Stealth advertising: Require #ad or #samenwerking at the top of every post, verbally in every video, and make it a contract condition, not a guideline.
• Misleading claims: Build a pre-approval step into every campaign workflow. No claim goes live without substantiation sign-off.
• Youth idols for under-13s: Verify audience demographics before briefing. If the creator's audience is predominantly under 16, reassess for any restricted product category.
• Age-restricted products: Include platform and audience demographic screening in your creator selection criteria, not just reach and engagement.
• Duty of care failures: Include RSM compliance clauses in every contract. Monitor published content. Keep records of all collaborations.

Browsing our full creator roster shows how creator profiles are structured with platform, genre, and audience data visible from the start, which makes demographic screening a first step rather than an afterthought.

The brands that get this right treat disclosure compliance as a creative and strategic asset, not a legal checkbox. Knowing exactly which practices are banned means your campaigns are built on solid ground before a single brief goes out. Reach out to the Zeth team to get a creator partnership built with compliance architecture included from day one.

Frequently asked questions

What are the main banned practices in influencer marketing disclosure?

The main banned practices under the Dutch RSM are: stealth advertising (posting sponsored content without clear disclosure), misleading product claims, using youth idols in advertising directed at children under 13, running age-restricted product campaigns that reach minors, and failing as a brand to ensure creators understand and follow disclosure rules. All five expose the brand, not just the creator, to regulatory action and reputational damage.

Does the RSM apply if a creator only received a free product, not payment?

Yes. The RSM applies to any commercial relationship, including gifted products, discount codes, affiliate arrangements, and event invitations. There is no monetary threshold. If the brand provided any benefit, the creator must disclose the commercial relationship clearly, and the brand must ensure that disclosure happens.

What disclosure format actually meets the RSM standard?

The disclosure must be immediately visible before the viewer engages with the content. For posts, that means #ad, #sponsored, or #samenwerking at the very top of the caption, not buried in a list of hashtags. For video content, it must appear on screen and be stated verbally at the start. Placing a disclaimer after a "read more" fold does not meet the standard.

Who enforces influencer marketing disclosure rules in the Netherlands?

The Reclame Code Commissie (RCC) handles complaints and issues public rulings. The Stichting Reclame Code actively monitors social media content using online tools. The Commissariaat voor de Media (CvdM) has additional oversight for broadcasters and creators with significant reach. RCC rulings are not legally binding but carry serious reputational consequences, and CvdM oversight can lead to formal legal action.

Can a brand be held liable for a creator's disclosure violation?

Yes. Under the RSM's duty-of-care principle, brands with a relevant relationship with a creator are responsible for ensuring the creator complies with disclosure rules. This means the brand must include RSM compliance clauses in contracts, provide clear briefing on disclosure requirements, and monitor published content. Without these safeguards, the brand shares liability for the creator's violations.

How do these Dutch rules compare to FTC guidelines?

Both the Dutch RSM and the US FTC's Endorsement Guides require that commercial relationships be clearly disclosed and that endorsements reflect honest opinions. The RSM is enforced through the RCC and CvdM, while the FTC can issue civil penalties. A key difference is that the RSM's 2022 update introduced stricter rules around advertising to children and food product claims that go beyond current FTC guidance. Brands running cross-border campaigns need to meet the stricter standard in each market.

Sources

• Tweede Kamer, 2024 — Parliamentary document 2024D46983 on the Reclamecode Social Media & Influencer Marketing, confirming advertiser duty-of-care obligations.
• Ondernemersplein (Dutch Government), 2025 — Official government guidance on social media advertising rules and influencer marketing disclosure requirements.
• DDMA, 2022 — Industry body update on the revised food advertising code, including restrictions on youth idols for the 13–16 age bracket.