Five advertising complaints made against lifestyle influencer Siobhán O’Hagan have been upheld by the industry’s watchdog.
In its latest complaints bulletin, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) found that advertising content had not been identified correctly in the social media posts. In Ms O’Hagan’s Life Lessons Podcast, the ASA said that marketing communications were misrepresented.
It concluded that the lack of disclosure resulted in the advertising being likely to mislead consumers about the nature of the content and concluded several sections of the code were breached.
The ASA said the advertising material should not appear in the same format again. The 36 year old’s management agency, 23 The Agency, responded on her behalf apologising for the oversight.
It said the influencer fully understood the importance of transparency and the need to declare content as an advertisement, particularly when promoting their own podcast which was behind a paywall.
“Unfortunately, in this instance,” the agency said, the “#AD Own Brand disclosure had been mistakenly omitted.”
The agency said Ms O’Hagan, who is a personal trainer, was committed to adhering strictly to all ASA guidelines in future and had taken steps to ensure that all future content related to their own business was clearly and correctly labelled.
A second complaint was also upheld by the watchdog against Ms O’Hagan, her management agency and the brand Wild, a plastic-free natural deodorant she promoted on her Instagram account. The brand’s advertisers said they took the issues raised “very seriously”.
They said they were now revising their influencer briefing process to emphasise and ensure that influencers were aware that the “#Ad” label was present on screen, and the first word in any block of text throughout a story, to a prominent scale and positioned against a darker part of the video background to ensure legibility on screen.
Ms O’Hagan’s management agency added they wanted to emphasise that both she, as an online influencer, and their agency also took the responsibility of full advertising disclosures as paramount.
They said Ms O’Hagan remained fully committed to maintaining the highest level of professionalism and was more than willing to comply with ASA guidelines and there had been absolutely no intention on her part to be non-compliant.
The ASA found that the advertising material should not appear in the same format again and they reminded all parties to ensure that commercial marketing communications on social media should be disclosed correctly.
In a third complaint around various advertising material published on the influencer’s Instagram account on behalf of The Hut Group, she appeared wearing different sports clothing from the MyProtein range.
Ms O’Hagan’s agency in this case said that “they were always open to constructive feedback as the industry involved was an evolving one”.
The fourth complaint centred around her online marketing for Emma Mattress. The advertisers said they had not asked Ms O’Hagan to sign the Influencer Contract Template as they considered it to be “clearly understood that advertising for their products was to be published in accordance with existing advertising regulations”.
They also pointed out that “as the Influencer in question was a renowned and experienced social media influencer”, they had relied on her “extensive professional experience in the sector, particularly regarding the requirements for identifying marketing communications correctly.”
On Ms O’Hagan’s behalf, 23 The Agency said they considered “this commitment was evident in the influencer’s consistent use of clear ad disclosures across the referenced content”.
Another complaint against her related to Instagram posts featuring a Califia Farms drinking cup with a straw with three bottles from the range of cold brews featured in the background.
The ASA said the advertising should not reappear in its current form and that it reminded all parties “to ensure that advertising was in compliance with the guidance for influencer marketing”.
In total the ASA upheld 15 complaints.
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