Advertisment
Two posts appeared on the influencer’s Instagram stories promoting products from her own brand, POCO.
Post 1:
A video promoted a product by POCO being back in stock. It contained the caption “They’re baaaacckk!”. A hyperlink to the product was labelled “BRIGHT EYES” and the official social media page of the company was tagged.
Post 2:
Three POCO products were shown with the caption “Our box of 3 sheet masks are also back in stock..”. The official social media page of the company was tagged alongside a hyperlink to the products labelled “WINTER SKIN SAVIOURS”.
Complaint
The complainant considered the posts to be in breach of the Code as they had not been identified correctly as advertising material given the absence of a primary identification label such as “#Ad”.
Response
The advertisers did not provide a response to the complaint.
Conclusion
Complaint Upheld.
The Complaints Council considered the detail of the complaint and the influencer’s response. They expressed concern at the advertisers’ failure to respond to the complaint. They reminded them that there is an onus on all advertisers to ensure that their marketing communications are in conformity with the Code.
The 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 stated that advertising content should have one of three primary labels as a disclosure; #AD, a platform provided tool or #Gifted. They also noted that in addition to the primary label #AD, there were several secondary advertisement labels that could be used in addition to and following the primary label as in this case #OwnBrand. The Council noted individuals were not precluded from promoting their own products on their own profile but for the purposes of the Code, this was commercial marketing communications and in the interests of consumers, such material should be disclosed as such.
The Council noted that the advertising content had not included a primary identification label and therefore had not been correctly identified as advertising material, and as such, likely to mislead consumers about the nature of the content. The Council concluded that the advertisements were in breach of Sections 3.10, 3.31, 3.32, 4.1, and 4.4 of the Code.
ACTION REQUIRED:
The advertising should not reappear in the same format.
The Council reminded all parties of the requirements of the Guidance in disclosing commercial content.
