BIG brother star Jodie Marsh has fallen foul of the advertising watchdog over posts on her Instagram account.
The model and bodybuilder wrote on the social media site about supplements from JST Nutrition Ltd, her company, she said: “These are the three things I personally take every day … Tonex I take for burning fat … Hebex I take for my skin, hair and nails”.
But the posts broke rules that stop celebrities from promoting a company or product without saying it is a marketing campaign.
Jodie Marsh first posted about JST Nutrition Ltd on her Instagram account in December of 2020.
In the latest post which was posted on January 11, 2021, she stated that she believes her skin is “so good” because she takes Hebex every day.
The rule that was broken in this was: “Marketing communications that contain nutrition or health claims must be supported by documentary evidence to show they meet the conditions of use associated with the relevant claim, as specified in the EU Register.
“Claims must be presented clearly and without exaggeration.”
The ASA said that the complaint made about these posts challenged whether the health claims in the ads “complied with the Code”, the claim “Do you suffer with IBS or bloating?? Try Neptox!!!…” made in three of the ads, and “Neptox … People with IBS – try it!!!” in the ads breached the Code.
The ASA challenged whether the ads “were obviously identifiable as a marketing communications.”
The ASA believed that the people would believe: “the claims “Do you suffer with IBS or bloating?? Try Neptox!!!” and “Neptox … People with IBS – try it!!!”, which featured explicit references to Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), that taking the product could alleviate the symptoms of IBS, and therefore treat that condition.
“We therefore considered the ads made disease treatment claims for a food supplement and concluded that they breached the Code.”
They added: “The CAP Code stated that marketing communications must be obviously identifiable as such, and that they must make clear their commercial intent if that was not obvious from the context.
“We noted that the posts did not feature a label such as “#ad” identifying them to consumers as marketing communications.
“We therefore concluded that the posts were not obviously identifiable as marketing communications and as such breached the Code.”
After concern from the ASA, JST Nutrition Ltd said that they believed the claims in the ads complied with the relevant Regulations but that they would check them to ensure compliance going forward.
Today the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) told Marsh that the products must have been listed on the EU Register of nutrition and health claims made on foods to make these claims.
However, after January 1, 2021, the health claims only needed to be on the GB register.
These claims were not listed on the EU, or GB register.
Just a month ago, social media influencer Zara McDermott was at the forefront of a backlash for an Instagram advert for Missguided.
Similar to Jodie Marsh, she got in trouble for not making it clear that her advertisement was a marketing campaign.
Earlier this year social media influencer Chet Johnson, made famous by MTV’s show Ex on the Beach, breached similar advertising conduct.
