De Martino and Cecilia Rodriguez in the sights of the Antitrust: hidden advertising

by time news

Cecilia Rodríguez Stefano De Martino
Lapresse

Stefano De Martino, Cecilia Rodriguez and Stefano Sala, known influencers active on social networks, have ended up in the crosshairs of the Antitrust for “hidden advertising”. The Competition and Market Authority – reports a note – “disputes the dissemination on the Instagram profile of these influencers, linked by a commercial relationship with the Bat company (British American Tobacco) Italy of posts containing an invitation to followers to publish content with tags and hashtags linked to the advertising campaign of the product Glo Hyper, a device for heated tobacco produced and marketed by the company “.

According to the authority, the exhortation of De Martino, Rodriguez and Sala appears aimed at multiplying the posts on Instagram that refer to the Glo Hyper brand, in order to promote the visibility of the device, consistent with the commercial relationship that binds the influencers to the brand owner. “The advertising effect obtained by professionals – and deriving from brand tags and hashtags – is however not recognizable in its commercial nature because there are no graphic or textual warnings that allow to identify the promotional purpose“, underlines the Agcm. On Thursday, May 27, inspections were carried out at the Bat headquarters with the help of the Special Antitrust Unit of the Guardia di Finanza.

THE REPLY OF BAT

With regard to the proceeding initiated by the AGCM for alleged covert advertising on the occasion of a campaign in July 2020, BAT Italia is convinced of the correctness of its actions and is confident that the outcome of the investigation confirms the legitimacy of the same.

Specifically, the dispute raised by the Authority does not refer to the improper use on social networks of photos, videos, comments by influencers in support of its products, nor to having concealed the sponsorship relationship that linked it to the influencers but pertains to a new case not contemplated by the AGCM guidelines, that is the circumstance that the adult followers were stimulated by the influencer to post a photo that represented the passions of their life, also tagging the name of Glo.

To this end, BAT Italia has collaborated and will continue to collaborate with the Authority by making all the required materials available, showing how every action implemented complies with the indications provided by the Authority in Italy as well as being consistent with the strict International Marketing Principles that are it is autonomously given.

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