Chloe Ferry, Jodie Marsh, Chloe Khan and Lucy Mecklenburgh are the first influencers and reality stars to be outed by the Advertising Standards Authority for not disclosing adverts on social media.
The named and shamed celebs basically did not make clear to their followers that they were getting paid to post adverts about certain products – despite being put on notice.
The four offending influencers will remain on the naughty list for three months and be subjected to enhanced spot checks by the ASA’s monitoring teams.
The ASA warned that other brands and influencers would be added if they similarly repeatedly break the rules.
(Image: chloegshore1/Instagram)
Back in March, the watchdog said that it would be keeping an eye on 122 UK-based influencers and found that the rules around ad disclosure were being followed only 35% of the time.
The four offenders were asked to “provide assurance” that they would be clear and open about if they were getting paid to promote a product. However, they all failed..
Should inclusion on the new web page fail to work, the ASA said it could go further still by taking out ads naming influencers, working with social media platforms to have their content removed or referring them to statutory bodies for possible fines.
Last month, Geordie Shore’s Chloe, 25, was one of three reality TV stars reprimanded by the ASA for promoting debt advice service Debt Slayers without revealing that she was being paid.
The ASA said former Celebrity Big Brother star Chloe Khan, 29, and former Towie star Lucy, 29, were included in the list after they were found to have broken advertising rules during the monitoring project.
In May, the ASA banned posts on television personality Jodie’s Instagram account for including unauthorised health claims about food supplements and not being clearly marked as ads.
ASA chief executive Guy Parker said: “We prefer to work with influencers and brands to help them stick to the rules, but the first influencers to be named on this list have been given every opportunity to treat people fairly about their ads.
“It’s not difficult: be upfront and clear when posts and stories are ads. If this doesn’t bring about the changes we expect, we won’t hesitate to consider further sanctions.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
