Uh oh, spaghetti-o: It looks like more brands and influencers have been pinged for committing big no-nos on Instagram.
Mumbrella reports that Bondi Boost, ORTC Clothing and Hennes & Mauritz UK Ltd have committed breaches recently along with a bunch of influencers.
First up there was influencer Lauren Burns who got busted over a paid post with Hennes & Mauritz UK Ltd, as they reportedly received complaints about her not making it clear that a post she shared had been paid for.
Then there was Carly McDonagh whose post about the heavily publicised ‘wave wand’ resulted in a complaint to Ad Standards from someone who contacted McDonagh about the post, only to be blocked on Instagram. Ouch.
The panel determined that the advertiser who have been spruiking the infamous ‘wave wand’, Bondi Boost, did not provide an initial response and ruled that the post did not have a clear ad tag and was therefore in breach of the code. The post now includes #ad.
And last on the list of shady influencers is ex Love Island star and soon-to-be Byron Baes bloke Elias Black got in deep shit for posts that were paid for by fashion label ORTC Clothing but were not properly labelled as such.
In one post, the caption tagged the brand and wrote “Neutral tones and classic styles AW21 by @ortcclothingco,” and in the other, the brand is not mentioned or tagged, despite Elias wearing their clothes and therefore promoting them.
After the advertiser confirmed they have a partnership with Elias and the complaint was raised with the panel, they later added #ad to the caption.
We Are Social managing director Suzie Shaw told Mumbrella that influencers ignoring “what is a pretty straightforward set of guidelines” are the scourge of influencer marketing.
“At this point, consumers are pretty savvy and we see little benefit in trying to deceive them about the nature of the relationship between a brand and an influencer,” she said. “It’s better for everyone to be honest and clear.”
Tsk tsk.
