Love Island contestants warned over social media adverts

Six influencers, including three Love Island contestants, have been called out by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for “consistently failing to disclose advertising” on Instagram.

In a post on its site, the ASA said: “Our rules are clear: it must be obvious to consumers before they read, ‘like’ or otherwise interact with a social media post if what they are engaging with is advertising.”

The organisation named Francesca Allen, Belle Hassan, Jodie Marsh and former Love Island contestants, Anna Vakili and Jess and Eve Gale as the influencers who have all “previously been named as not flagging ads in their posts, Stories or Reels”.

ASA added: “Since going on the webpage, they have failed to abide by the advertising rules and improve disclosure. The ASA is now taking out ads against these influencers on Instagram, alerting consumers to their failure to follow the rules.”

The webpage it is referring to is one that was set up by ASA in June 2021 that named influencers who “despite warnings either repeatedly failed to disclose when their social media posts were, in fact, ads or failed to provide assurances that they would do so in the future”.

ASA continued: “This followed our proactive monitoring sweep that discovered inconsistent ad disclosure by influencers on Instagram through Stories, posts and Reels, with the disclosure rules being followed (when posts were ads) only 35 per cent of the time. The influencers on the webpage are subject to enhanced monitoring and remain on there for a minimum of three months.”

The adverts that ASA has now taken out against the named influencers state that the influencer in question has been “sanctioned by the UK’s ad regulator for not declaring ads on this platform. Be aware that products and services recommended or featured by this influencer may have been paid for by those brands. Our non-compliant social media influencer page at asa.org.uk is regularly updated to inform consumers of those who break these rules”.

ASA said that 2019 Love Island winner, Amber Rose Gill would be added to its webpage this week for “ongoing non-disclosure” and it will continue to “monitor her content”.

Shahriar Coupal, Director of Advertising Policy & Practice at the ASA, said in a statement: “For the minority of influencers that repeatedly fail to disclose their paid-for posts, it’s important their social media followers are told.

“In a new front of enforcement activity, we’re using targeted ads to highlight the breaches of six social media personalities to the very same audience they’re seeking to influence. When we see the necessary changes to their disclosure practices, we’ll call off the ads. But, where non-compliance persists, we’ll look to more direct forms of enforcement.”

The Independent has contacted all influencers named for comment.