32-Country Report on Branded Content Governance (Branded Content Governance Project, June 2024)

This report forms part of a 32-country study of branded content governance. Each report describes the formal laws and regulations that affect branded content practices within the country. The full 32-country report and comparative analysis is one of the major outputs of the Branded Content Governance Project, a three-year international research initiative supported by UK Research Innovation.

The reports we are publishing now, in June and July 2024, are interim versions of reports we will publish in full in the final year of the project, in summer 2025. This version of the report provides a contextual overview of the country, the regulation of communications and the regulation of advertising. This is followed by sections that describe the formal governance of branded content classified according to media sectors and forms as: publishing, audiovisual, audio, digital advertising, social media marketing, outdoor, experiential and other. The reports contain information about laws but nothing in their pages constitutes legal advice.

The full version in 2025 will comprise expanded versions of each country report, together with thematic and analytical reports. The latter will present and examine the patterns and insights from comparative analysis of the 32 countries, discuss key findings relevant to understanding and evaluating governance processes, and provide details of our methods, research design and recommendations for building on this work in future collaborative research.

These reports could not have been produced without the research and writing contribution of many people and the guidance of many more. Our 32-country report overall is the work of our two postdoctoral research fellows, Dr Hanna Kubicka and Dr Clara Sanchez-Rebato Valiente, supported by the project research team. The Branded Content Governance (BCG) project is led by academics at three Universities. Prof Jonathan Hardy, University of the Arts London is Principal Investigator, working with two Co-Investigators, Prof. Iain MacRury, University of Stirling, and Prof. Patricia Núñez Gómez, Complutense University of Madrid. Our project research team also includes Dr. Celia Rangel, Computense University, Dr Beatriz Carmen Martínez Isidoro, Complutense University, Dr. Maria Establés, University of Castilla-La Mancha and Dr. Lucia Gloria Vázquez Rodrígeuz, University College London. These reports could not have been produced without the contribution of academic, legal and industry advisers, who have provided expert guidance to assist our team