Influencer marketing is one of the most effective advertising channels today, yet in Georgia it is not governed by a separate statute: the applicable rules come from the Law of Georgia on Advertising. This page explains which norms extend to paid posts, how sponsorship is qualified and what restrictions attach to material addressed to minors: the obligations arise from the Georgian statute, not from foreign disclosure regimes.
The Scope of the Law
Under the second article of the Law on Advertising, the statute regulates the legal relations arising during the production, placement and distribution of advertising on Georgia's goods and financial markets. Its purpose is healthy competition in advertising, protection of social interests, advertising subjects and consumers, and prevention of improper advertising. The law applies to natural and legal persons of Georgia and of foreign states that produce, place and distribute advertising in Georgia under the established registration procedure, and even where actions performed outside Georgia cause or may cause negative results on Georgian territory, such as restriction of competition or misleading of other persons. At the same time, the law does not extend to political advertising, nor to statements of natural persons not directly connected with entrepreneurial activity — the carve-out that separates private opinion from paid commercial content.
The Recognisability Requirement
The fourth article of the law sets the general requirements toward advertising: advertising must be understandable, at the moment of its presentation, directly as advertising, without the use of special knowledge or technical means. A paid publication must therefore be presented so that the recipient understands at first glance that they are viewing advertising: labelling, presentation and context must convey the commercial nature of the material without effort from the audience. The same article provides that advertising distributed on the whole territory of Georgia is distributed in the state language, and an owner of a goods or services mark registered in another language, who places the mark in Georgia, must convey it into Georgian by transliteration. Especially important is the personality rule: it is prohibited to use in advertising the image or name of a natural person without permission — involving an influencer's name or likeness without consent is an infringement in itself.