YOUR ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE BUSINESS OF INFLUENCER MARKETING

News

Love Island star under fire for failing to disclose sponsored content on Instagram

Love Island star under fire for failing to disclose sponsored content on Instagram

Love Island influencer Olivia Buckland has had a post removed from her Instagram after she failed to disclose a partnership with a brand. 

Buckland had made a video in collaboration with make up brand W7. The video showed her displaying the product with a caption that read: 'Can't wait to see what you guys create #BucksBeauty'.

The ASA was alerted by a member of the public, on the grounds that the post was not adequately disclosing a brand deal. 

Warpaint, parent company of W7, stated that Buckland was not specifically paid to represent the brand. Buckland works as an ambassador for the brand and was paid to make a "blog-style post", not an endorsement video.

Buckland is not the first celebrity influencer to break the rules; Made in Chelsea's Louise Thomspon recently received a slap on the wrist for not marking Instagram posts as sponsored.

Financial agreement

While Buckland may not have been paid to directly promote the brand, the contract between herself and Warpaint stipulates that she must discuss the brand positively. The ASA recently updated its guidelines to further quantify how to disclose sponsored content accurately.

"While the written contractual agreement did not make specific stipulations about the content published by Buckland on her social media profiles, the contract required Buckland to promote the brand and the products in a positive light at all times," it explained.

"Because that would in effect restrict aspects of Ms Buckland’s control of her social media content, we considered that W7 had sufficient control over the content for the Instagram post in question to be considered a marketing communication. The post, therefore, fell within the remit of the CAP Code."

The ad was then banned from Instagram, and Warpaint has been warned to make sure "ads are obviously identifiable as marketing communications" in future influencer collaborations. 


Editor

Danielle Partis is editor of PocketGamer.biz and former editor of InfluencerUpdate.biz. She was named Journalist of the Year at the MCV Women in Games Awards 2019, as well as in the MCV 30 under 30 2020. Prior to Steel Media, she wrote about music and games at Team Rock.