The advertising watchdog has banned three separate Instagram posts by singer and presenter Myleene Klass after she failed to make clear to her followers that they were ads.
The posts, promoting a book she had written titled They Don’t Teach This At School as well as products sold by the retailer Next and footwear brand Skechers, all failed to include any sort of indication they were ads, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) found.
In a reel on Klass’s Instagram on May 13, text stated: “What do you wish they’d taught at school? I asked my mates …. accompanied by a video of various celebrities answering the question. The video ended with Klass being shown holding a copy of her book, while on-screen text stated ‘Wish granted’.”
A viewer complained that the post was not obviously identifiable as an ad.
Posts later in May showed Klass wearing clothes from Next and tagged with MyleeneKlassXNext and nextofficial.
Next said it had an agreement with Klass that she should make positive references to the brand in interviews, public appearances and on social media and should make it clear that she had a commercial relationship with Next.
Further posts in May and June featured images of Klass wearing Skechers items, one showing her and another woman wearing pink plastic clogs with the text: “@the_mutha_ship @skechers_uk didn’t even plan it”.
Skechers said the posts were part of a contractual relationship with Klass, which required her to comply with all applicable laws, including advertising laws.
A representative for Klass told the ASA there was “some confusion as to what was and was not an ad but Ms Klass had added ‘ad’ to all her posts moving forward and would continue to do so”.
The ASA found that all the posts were ads, but that they did not feature any label identifying them as such.
It ruled that the ads must not appear again, adding: “We told Myleene Klass to ensure that ads were obviously identifiable as marketing communications and made clear upfront their commercial intent in future, for example, by including a clear identifier such as ‘#ad’.”
