Lesson 3 of 7
UGC ads that keep you out of trouble
What you may and may not show in an ad with a person in it
The idea
An actor in a shampoo ad can show you the shampoo. What they can't do is say “I've used it for ten years” when they haven't. The same rule now covers the AI faces in your ads.
United States, 2024
The FTC's rule bans fake reviews and testimonials from people who don't exist or never used the product. Buying reviews too
United Kingdom, 2025
Fake reviews, and hiding that a review was paid for, are now banned under consumer law
The apps
YouTube, TikTok and Meta ask you to label realistic AI-made or edited content
Presenter or customer?
Not allowed
- An AI face saying “I bought it and it changed my business”
- A review you wrote, signed as a customer
- Paying for five-star reviews
Fine
- An AI or hired presenter who shows and explains the product
- A real customer's words, with their permission
- Asking every customer for an honest review
The studio's own guidance says the same. A face from the cast works as a presenter who shows and explains, never as a customer who says they bought it.
Sort it
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Allowed or not?
“An AI presenter showing the product on screen”
Today, with AI
A convincing person on camera now takes minutes to make. That's why the law drew the line at fake experience, not at AI itself.
Apps spot and label AI content more often, and accounts that hide it risk their reach and their customers' trust.
What AI does well
Writing scripts with a strong first second, and making a presenter video without a shoot.
Where it goes wrong
Ask it for a testimonial and it writes one in the first person. Read every script for claimed experience before you make the video.
What stays yours
The line between presenter and customer, the true claims, and the labels.
Check yourself
Do it in the studio
Checklist
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Before a UGC ad goes out
- 01
Open Get customers → Ads → UGC ads and press Write 4 scripts: openings and pains from your brand.
25 credits - 02
Read each script against the checklist above. Change any line that claims experience the presenter doesn't have.
free - 03
Make one with Make the ad: charged by the second, 4 a second for a draft at 480p.
4 credits a second - 04
Or write a script for a real customer to film, with their permission, using the same checklist.
free
Done when Your ad passes all five checks: no fake experience, true claims, and both the ad and the AI labelled.
Go deeper
University courses on the same topic, if you want to go further.
Bocconi
Legal issues in marketing (MSc Marketing Management)The legal limits on making, promoting and selling
Imperial College Business School
Responsible Digital Innovation: Ethics at Work (BUSI70574)Ethical questions in digital work