Gifted items disclosure rules UK: when #Gifted is required

What to take away

A free product is advertising under the CAP Code when the brand pays for the post or controls what you say; the value of the item is not the test.
If you agreed to post, tag or review in exchange for the item, label it as an ad rather than simply "gifted".
An unannounced PR parcel with no conditions is not an ad, but a note that the item was a gift still avoids misleading followers.
Labels belong at the start of the caption and must be repeated on Stories, Reels and shorts where captions are truncated.
Keep the briefs, emails and contracts that show what was agreed, because complaints are judged on that evidence.

The test is control, not generosity

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) decides whether a post is an ad by looking at payment and control. The CAP Code (the Committee of Advertising Practice Code) is a non-statutory advertising code. Rules 2.1 and 2.3 require marketing communications to be obviously identifiable as such and to make their commercial intent clear if it is not obvious from the context. If a brand pays you, or gives you something of value and has a say over what you publish, the content must be identifiable as advertising at first glance.

The ASA's guidance on recognising ads in social media and influencer marketing draws the line at control. An unannounced parcel, sent with no brief and no obligation to post, is not treated as an ad under the CAP Code, though saying it was a gift is a courtesy to your audience.

Consumer law runs alongside the advertising codes. The current consumer-protection rules on unfair commercial practices are in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024; they replaced the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs). The Competition and Markets Authority's guidance, Social media endorsements: being transparent with your followers, explains the need to disclose material connections such as gifts. The CMA can enforce consumer-protection law where a commercial practice misleads consumers by omission. Where the arrangement was intended to generate coverage, silence about it is the risk.

Where a PR gift stops being just a gift

Control rarely arrives as a formal contract. It arrives as a despatch note asking for a tag, a follow-up offering more items in return for a Reel, or a brief with approved talking points. Accept any of those terms and the post becomes advertising, whatever the invoice says.

The detailed labelling requirements sit in the ASA influencer disclosure rules, including the ASA's Influencer's guide to making clear that ads are ads, which covers wording and placement across formats. Neither the guide nor the CAP Code prescribes #Gifted as a required label. They cannot answer the gift question on their own, because that turns on your arrangement with the brand rather than the hashtag you choose.

The safest habit is to label when you are unsure. Over-labelling is not a breach, and an audience that trusts your recommendations is worth more than a tidy caption.

Paid partnership or PR gift: a decision table

Check the parcel against these questions before you write the caption.

Paid deal or PR gift?

Did the brand pay a fee?

Yes

Advertisement: label Ad

Did the brand set conditions?

Paid partnership or PR gift

Paid deal or gift with conditions

What the brand provided: Fee, free product or both
Say over the content: Brief, approval or talking points
Status under the CAP Code: Advertisement
Label to use: Ad, Advertising or the platform's paid partnership tool
Paper trail: Signed contract, brief and invoice

Unsolicited PR gift

What the brand provided: Free product only
Say over the content: None
Status under the CAP Code: Not an advertisement
Label to use: Gifted or PR product, for transparency
Paper trail: Despatch note and your own replies

How to label a gifted post in practice

How to label a gifted post

Work out whether you were paid or briefed. Either one makes the post advertising.
Put the label in the first line of the caption, before the text is cut off.
Use plain wording such as Ad or Advertising, and treat #Gifted, #PR and #Collab as extras rather than substitutes.
Repeat the label on Stories, Reels and shorts, and pin a comment where captions are hidden.
Keep the brief, invoice, messages and despatch note together while the campaign runs.

Clauses that settle gifted-item arguments

Gifted arrangements go wrong when nobody writes them down. If you never post about the item, who owns it? Can you resell it, and does the brand expect it back?

A short gifts clause covering ownership, resale, approval and the label you will use removes most of that argument. The wider set of terms is covered in our guide to influencer contract clauses, which sets out what to agree before a campaign starts.

Common questions

Does #Gifted satisfy the ASA's rules?

No. UK law and the CAP Code do not require the specific hashtag #Gifted. For an unsolicited gift with no obligation to post, #Gifted can disclose that the item was gifted, though it is not a required label. If the post is advertising, #Gifted alone is not enough: for example, it does not clearly identify a paid post or a post made in return for a product or under a brand brief. Use “Ad” or “Advertising” for those posts.

Do I need to disclose a PR package I never post about?

No. There is nothing to label if you publish nothing about it. If the item later appears in a paid post, that post carries its own ad label.

Can the ASA fine a creator?

The ASA cannot issue fines. It publishes rulings, requires ads to be changed or withdrawn, and can refer persistent offenders to trading standards.

Are gifted items taxable?

Products received in exchange for promotion are normally trading income, valued at what the item would cost to buy. One-off parcels sent with no obligation are less clear-cut, so keep the paperwork and take advice.