Food & Beverages

The Influencer featured on her Instagram stories holding a drinking cup with a straw. Three bottles from the Califia Farms range of cold brews featured in the background. The Influencer informed viewers that:

“THEY’RE ACTUALLY JUST SO DELICIOUS AND SO HANDY
@califiafarms
#Ad
Only €2.50 in {retailer’s name} until August 13th”

The complainant said that the marketing communication had not been identified correctly. They said the advertisement identification label had been placed below the caption of the advertisement rather than at the top.

Advertisers:
The advertisers said the social media post was created by and posted on the influencer’s Instagram page as a ‘Story’. In the post in question, they had sought to promote their range of iced coffee products and draw attention to a discounted price on the products available in the stores referenced.

The advertisers said the objective of the post had been to clearly communicate the promotion available to the audience, whilst being clear about the commercial nature of their relationship with the Influencer. They said they took their responsibilities seriously in relation to the ASA’s guidelines and at no point had they sought to mislead as to the nature of their relationship with the Influencer. They said that the ‘#Ad’ label was present on screen, throughout the Story, to a prominent scale and was positioned against a darker part of the video background to ensure legibility on screen.

Having re-reviewed the ASA’s guidelines on influencer marketing, however, the advertisers said they acknowledged and understood that the #Ad label should have been the first word in any block of text, and on this occasion, they had fallen short on this principle by not positioning the label in the correct position. They said the positioning of the #Ad label could have been optimised to ensure absolute clarity that this was a commercial post by being the first word in a block of text and they would ensure that in all future influencer posts this guideline would be adhered to.

Agency:
The Influencer’s management agency said they wanted to emphasise that both the Influencer, as an online influencer, and their agency took the responsibility of full advertising disclosure very seriously. They considered this commitment was evident in the Influencer’s consistent use of clear ad disclosures across the referenced content.

In conclusion they said the Influencer remained fully committed to maintaining the highest level of professionalism and was more than willing to comply with ASA guidelines.

Complaint Upheld.

The Complaints Council considered the detail of the complaint, and the responses received from the advertisers and the influencer’s agency.

The Complaints Council noted the Code requirements that marketing communications should be clear that they are marketing communications (3.31) and should not misrepresent their true purpose such as being presented as user-generated content (3.32). They also noted the joint guidance published by the Advertising Standards Authority and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) on disclosing advertising content, which provided that advertising content should have one of three primary labels as a disclosure; #AD, a platform provided tool or #Gifted and that the relevant disclosure should be at the start of video content.

The Council noted that, while the advertising content had included the #AD disclosure, it had not been positioned correctly at the start of the text content as set out in the guidance. In the circumstances, the Council concluded that the advertising was in breach of Sections 3.31 and 3.32of the Code.


ACTION REQUIRED:
The advertising should not reappear in its current form.
The Council reminded all parties to ensure that advertising was in compliance with the guidance for influencer marketing.