Former Love Island contestant Olivia Buckland has come under fire by the UK’s advertising watchdog for a second time.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) first ordered Buckland to remove an Instagram post promoting W7 Cosmetics in October 2018, after it found that she failed to meet influencer marketing guidelines.
In August the 25-year-old again landed herself in hot water with the regulator for failing to make it clear to Instagram users that a post featuring tanning brand Cocoa Brown was paid-for marketing.
The post showed the Cocoa Brown, Batiste and W7 Cosmetics brand ambassador holding a pink bottle with the logo ‘CB’ visible.
The supporting caption said: “The V-Day prep is well underway and I’m topping up my tan with my fave @cocoabrowntan by @marissacarter 1 HOUR TAN MOUSSE… more”.
Once the caption was clicked on, additional text stated “Original –it gives me such a natural glow with no streaks and is the perfect accessory for date night with bae [heart eye emoji] Get yours now @superdrug #TeamCB #CocoaBrownTan #ValentinesDay #BrandAmbassador”.
Cocoa Brown claimed it had advised Buckland that #ad should be used on all future posts. However, Buckland argued that the use of #BrandAmbassador in the post, as well as her Instagram bio, was adequate.
The ASA said that her bio was unlikely to be seen by Instagram users at the point they were viewing individual advertising posts.
“The term ‘brand ambassador’ was likely to suggest to readers a general relationship with the brand, we considered that it was unlikely to convey that Cocoa Brown had both paid for and had a level of control over the content of the post,” published the ASA.
The regulator said that future marketing communications must include a clear identifier such as #ad.
Want to learn how to avoid common compliance pitfalls? Register to attend the 2019 Cosmetics Business Regulatory Summit today.