Two social media influencers with thousands of followers have been instructed to remove filtered Instagram posts showing “misleadingly exaggerated” depictions of tanning products.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said that the in-app beauty filters used by Cinzia Baylis-Zullo and Elly Norris deluded consumers “regarding the effect the product was capable of achieving”.
Complaints were linked to two posts in July 2020, one by Ms Zullo promoting We Are Luxe Ltd t/a Tanologist Tan, and one by Ms Norris promoting Skinny Tan.
The watchdog said that the use of filters in adverts was “not inherently problematic”, but that advertisers of cosmetic products “needed to take particular care not to exaggerate or otherwise mislead consumers regarding the product advertised”.
Ms Zullo has 356,000 followers on Instagram, and Ms Norris has 23,000.
We Are Luxe Ltd answered that Ms Zullo’s video was a demonstration of how to apply the product and she had not described its efficacy, and she claimed the filter used in the post changed her appearance by adding freckles.
Skinny Tan said that Ms Norris had created the photos and text in her Instagram posts and they had reposted them because she had been complimentary about the product – but they had not paid her.
Ms Norris said she had applied an Instagram in-app filter called “Perfect Tan” by Bianca Petry to her photos.
The ASA said that customers would expect to see results from the products featured similar to those of both women and the posts were therefore misleading.
It ordered that the adverts must not appear in the form that provoked the complaints.
The ASA told Skinny Tan and Ms Norris, and We Are Luxe Ltd and Ms Zullo, not to apply beauty filters to photos which promoted beauty products if such filters were likely to exaggerate the effect of the product.
