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Questionable Influencers Caught Out In Ad Crack Down

Questionable influencers spruiking for Reebok and Adidas, and appliance Company Bondi Boost have all been nobbled for Ad Standard breaches.

The Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) whose Code of Ethics was recently updated have singled out fitness model and influencer Sophie Guidolin (@sophie_guidolin) who flaunts Adidas and Reebok products was found to be in breach of distinguishable advertising rules according to Mumbrella.

Basically, she failed to reveal that she was a “Paid to plead” influencer when she spruiked their product.

A sample of complaints about the post said it was “misleading” as it did not note that it was an ad or a sponsored post.

Guidolin is a Reebok Ambassador but said the post in question was not one of her contracted posts and that it was in a “different in style” to the contracted posts, and that as a result, it should not constitute a breach of the code.

She has now agreed to remove the Post from her Instagram Feed.

Another influencer to be targeted was Carly McDonagh (@carlyamcdonagh) who spruiked a ‘wave wand’, hair styling product created by Bondi Boost.

The post in question tagged the advertiser and offered a discount on the product with the code ‘CARLY20’.

Ad Standards received a complaint about the post from someone who contacted the account owner to ask if the post was sponsored, only to be blocked on Instagram by McDonagh.

The panel noted that the advertiser did not provide an initial response and ruled that the post was not clearly distinguishable as advertising, and thus breached the code. The post has since been updated with #ad.

European clothing brand, Yves Saint Laurent, has also been found to have breached Ad Standards under the AANA Health and Safety code for depicting an unhealthy body image.

The post in question was an Instagram advertisement featuring a person on a beach with the text ‘Saint Laurent’ superimposed over the top.

The ad was subject to complaints that suggested the model appears to be “extremely thin” and “creates the impression that being underweight is desirable for women”.

According to Mumbrella The advertiser did not provide an initial response before the Ad Standards Community Panel deliberated over whether the ad breached the AANA Code of Ethics when it comes to Health and Safety.

The panel noted that while the advertising is depicting ‘high-fashion’ where models are typically of a slim body type, that the person depicted looked “emaciated” and considered that “the impression of the advertisement was of a person that looked thin to a degree that would not be attainable by healthy practices”.

The complaint was upheld, with Saint Lauren then responding that it disagreed with the ruling and noting that the image is no longer being used.



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