A Molly-Mae Hague Instagram post advertising a dress for the popular online clothing brand PrettyLittleThing for which she was made Creative Director has been banned after she failed to include any indication that it was an advertisement.
The social media influencer, who starred in the fifth series of ITV2 dating show Love Island in 2019, shared a post, seen on October 31, which showed an image of her wearing the dress, with text stating: "You can actually shop it now on PLT – Couldn’t not make it available for you guys too."
The post, which also included a link to the retailer's website, was seen by a viewer, who understood that Molly-Mae was a creative director at PrettyLittleThing, who complained that the ad did not make clear its commercial intent.
PrettyLittleThing confirmed that Molly-Mae was a creative director with the retailer, and that their contractual agreement expressly stated the requirement for her to include the #ad disclosure in posts. The firm understood that the disclosure had been omitted by mistake and had reminded Hague of the requirement to prevent any similar mistakes in future.
A spokeswoman for Hague also said the #ad disclosure had been left off by mistake and would be used in future. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said: “We noted that the story had appeared in Molly-Mae Hague’s own account and did not contain any indication that it was a marketing communication.
"We considered that, while some of her followers may have known that she was a creative director at PrettyLittleThing, it was not immediately clear to all consumers that she had a commercial interest in PrettyLittleThing from the post itself. We therefore concluded that the commercial intent behind the story was not made clear upfront and it was not obviously identifiable as a marketing communication.
"We welcomed the assurances from both PrettyLittleThing and Molly-Mae Hague that similar posts would include a label such as #ad in future."
In August last year Molly-Mae, 23, announced her 'dreams had come true' as she confirmed she had been appointed Creative Director at PrettyLittleThing. She has worked with the Manchester clothing brand since soaring to fame in the famous Love Island villa, where she came runner-up with boyfriend Tommy Fury, in 2019.
She quickly became the most successful Islander signing lucrative brand deals. But she has said landing the role with PLT was her 'biggest career move' to date. "This is the biggest move in my career so far and I can’t explain my gratitude to my favourite brand in the world for trusting me with this role," she said at the time.
"PLT have had faith in me from the VERY start and to now be a Director within the business feels like a complete dream come true. I hope you’re all ready for my visions to come to life within this incredible brand… "
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