Influencer Erin Simpson 'forgot' to mention post was an ad

Wednesday, 15 July 2020

TV personality Erin Simpson shares about her recent health scare.

Influencer Erin Simpson has removed a promotional social media post after the Advertising Standards Authority received a complaint that she failed to disclose the post was an advertisement.

Simpson said she “forgot” to disclose that an Instagram story promoting Caci Clinic’s services was an advertisement.

Last month Simpson posted a photo of herself with the text: “My face will only be red for about an hour and then will go down! The benefits of this treatment will last months”.

The post also said '@caci_nz have different programmes and deals you can sign up to, to save your pennies. Click through or ring for a consult like I did.”

* Simone Anderson complaints upheld: #Gifted not enough

TV personality and social media influencer Erin Simpson says she ‘forgot’ to mention a promotional Instagram post was an advertisement.

* Advertising Standards Authority receives complaints about influencer Simone Anderson

The ASA received a complaint from one of her 39,000 Instagram followers claiming Simpson had not acknowledged her services at Caci Clinic were paid or gifted.

Simpson apologised to the authority and pulled the story, claiming she had no intention to mislead or misinform her followers.

“I am versed in the use of hashtags to apply transparency around promotional content I create and am also extremely open if a follower simply asks about posts, this occasion is an isolated situation and will not reoccur from any of my platforms,” Simpson said.

The former TV presenter said her partnership with Caci Clinic started in 2018 and her first post for the company stated her “journey” with the business was “#gifted and #notpaid”.

“Throughout my ongoing partnership with Caci Clinic I post stories surrounding my skin journey and treatment in a review form to document real results and real procedures, it is usually common practice that I use certain hashtags to classify the nature of my posts, in this instance I forgot and for that I am sorry.”

Blogger and social media influencer Simone Anderson has been told by the Advertising Standards Authority that she had not made the commercial nature of the relationship behind recent posts clear enough.

Simpson said she took the complaint seriously and would clearly disclose advertisements through hashtags when posting future promotional content.

The authority said according to the Advertising Standards Code, advertisements must be truthful, balanced and not misleading and identified as such.

It acknowledged Simpson took action by removing the advertisement after receiving the complaint.

‘Given the advertiser’s co-operative engagement with the process and the self-regulatory action taken in removing the advertisement, the chair said it would serve no further purpose to place the matter before the complaints board,” the ASA said in its decision.

Earlier this month the advertising watchdog upheld four complaints against influencer Simone Anderson for failing to disclose content as advertising.

In its decision, the complaints board said there was nothing wrong with being paid with gifts, free services and hotel stays to create content – but when this happened there needed to be full disclosure upfront about the commercial arrangement.

ASA chief executive Hilary Souter said the authority wanted to work with the influencer community to “support responsible advertising and clearly labelled content”.

Souter said the ASA would be releasing draft guidelines for consultation on its website soon.

The ASA also received three complaints against clothing retailer Glassons for an in-store video advertisement that looked like “soft porn”.

The Glassons video advertisement to promote its “satin floral slip dress” showed a woman wearing the dress and kneeling on a bed.

As she took a photo of herself, she slowly lifted up the front hem of her dress and leaned forward, drawing the viewer's attention to her chest area.

Two complainants said the advertisement was “disgusting” while a third said it “equated to soft porn”.

The authority said the advertisement was inappropriate and “detrimental to the health and wellbeing of young girls”.

Glassons’ owner Hallenstein Glasson Holdings removed the advertisement and said it would not use it again.

The complaint was not taken to the complaints board because of the advertiser’s “cooperative engagement”, the ASA said.