Clothing (Adult)

The advertising under the shop tab on the influencer’s website invited viewers to:

“Shop My Style”

Viewers to the website were then presented with various outfits which had been chosen by the Influencer.

The complainant made two separate complaints that the webpages contained affiliate links (1) and that this had not been disclosed. The complainant forwarded screenshots from
the website.

Footnotes:
(1) Affiliate links allow web traffic to be tracked and commission to be paid

The Influencer’s agency representative responded on her behalf. The representative said that it appeared to be the case that the complainant had not scrolled down to the end of the webpage where the disclosure had been located. They initially submitted a screenshot of the website accessed from a mobile device which included the statement, placed at the end of the advertising content, which read “*Please note, [first name] may receive commission on sales via the links above”. They subsequently submitted a screenshot of the website with the same text at the start of the advertising content.

Complaint upheld.

The Complaints Committee considered the detail of the complaint and the response. The Committee noted the Code requirement that a marketing communication should be designed and presented in such a way that it is clear that it is a marketing communication. As the disclosure was at the end of the webpage, consumers did not have the opportunity to know immediately that they were engaging with marketing communications. In the circumstances, the Committee concluded that the advertising had breached Sections 3.31 and 3.32 of the Code.

ACTION REQUIRED:
As the disclosure was subsequently clear from the top of the webpage, no further action was required.