Advertisment
The advertising was Instagram stories by the influencer.
One story had the text “I just had a (sic) “everything” shower the scrub I got with no lashes & extensions it hits different” superimposed over the influencer. The second featured text which read “Full body scrub This tackles any ingrown, irritation or roughness on the skin”. This text was overlain on video of the influencer scrubbing her leg. The third story featured the text “Order the Estrid starter kit on subscription & use my code you get (sic) a FREE full size exfoliant, shave gel or shower & shave gel”. This text box was again over the influencer in portrait.
“@heyestrid ad” appeared in the top righthand corner of the stories. In each case, the text was in a text box with a background colour. All three stories contained a link that read “Shop Estrid now” followed by “JULIEBOGO is the code”.
Complaint
The complainant provided screenshots from each of the stories. They considered that the advertising was misleading as it was not immediately obvious that they were advertisements taking account of the size and position of the disclosures and given that the disclosures were incorrect.
Response
The advertisers and influencer did not provide a response.
Conclusion
The Council expressed concern at the advertiser’s and influencer’s failure to respond to the complaint. They reminded them that there is an onus on advertisers and influencers to ensure that their advertising is 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 or independent reviews (3.32).
The Council 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. The Council considered that by providing for specific disclosures, consumer recognition that content is advertising would be enhanced. In additional, they noted that the Joint Guidance provided that advertising disclosures should be at the start of a video and the first word in a text block.
The Council considered that it was likely that consumers would regard a brand handle as a text box. The Council noted that while the advertising had contained a text box with the company tag (@heyestrid) followed by ‘ad’, ‘ad’ was not an appropriate disclosure as it should have been preceded by # and the disclosure should have been the first word. Therefore, they considered that the primary disclosure (#AD) was not used. In addition, they considered that the font colour, size, and placement of the text boxes minimised their visibility.
In the circumstances, the Council considered that the advertising content had not been correctly identified as advertising material, and as such, was likely to mislead consumers as to the nature of the content. The Council concluded that the advertisement was in breach of Sections 3.10; 3.31; 3.32; 4.1 and 4.4 of the Code.
Action Required:
The advertising must not reappear in its current form. The Council reminded the advertiser and influencer of the requirements of the Guidance in disclosing commercial content.
