Katie Price and Rio Ferdinand tweets to be investigated

[Omah]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16748215

Tweets by Katie Price and Rio Ferdinand will be investigated by a watchdog amid claims they broke advertising rules.

The Twitter messages by glamour model Price and footballer Ferdinand were promoting Snickers chocolate bars.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has launched a formal inquiry into whether the tweets made it clear they were marketing communications.

The ASA acted following two complaints and said it would publish its findings in due course.

It said in a statement: "The ASA has launched a formal investigation into tweets by Katie Price and Rio Ferdinand to establish whether Mars' @SnickersUK#hungry#spon campaign is in breach of the Advertising Codes.

"We are investigating two points: (a) whether it should have been stated in the 'teaser' tweets that they were marketing communications and (b) whether the hashtag "#spon" in the final 'reveal' tweet made it clear enough that that tweet was a marketing communication."

Price sent spoof tweets on subjects such as the Eurozone debt crisis, China's GDP figures and the economic concept of quantitative easing.

Ferdinand wrote on 24 January: "Can't wait 2 get home from training and finish that cardigan", followed by "Cardy finished. Now 4 the matching mittens!!!"

They both tweeted the final pay-off line: "You're not you when you're hungry."

Price has 1.5 million followers on Twitter and Ferdinand has 1.9 million.

Boxer Amir Khan, cricketer Sir Ian Botham and singer Cher Lloyd have also been involved in the campaign.

Since I am not a user, I wonder how much of Twitter is subjected to/controlled by advertising ?

[Locke.]

A nice spell behind bars for Mr Ferdinand hopefully

[Saph]

Why is Katie Price tweeting about Snickers bars? :laugh2:

lol at Cher Lloyd being involved

[King Gizzard]

Good, Rio Ferdinand is the biggest waste of a twitter account there is

[Doogle]

Tbf Snickers are the best chocolate bars ever.

[Jack_]

Is this some sort of ****ing joke?

[Marc]

Send them to jail!

[Omah]

Is this some sort of ****ing joke?

No .....

http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/report_rio-ferdinand-s-snickers-ad-angers-twitter-users_1642379

Footballer Rio Ferdinand has been slammed for promoting Snickers chocolate bar on Twitter.

Ferdinand started posting odd tweets about knitting and 'needing more wool' much to the bemusement of his fans.

The series of strange messages ended with a tweet and picture of the footballer posing with a Snickers bar.

However, the promotion ignores the Office of Fair Trading’s advice about celebrities making it clear when they are promoting or endorsing a product.

The OFT has warned companies that "deceptive advertising" has to stop.

"Online advertising and marketing practices that do not disclose they include paid for promotions are deceptive under trading laws," the Telegraph quoted an OFT spokesperson as saying.

The spokesperson refused to comment on Snickers’s specific advertising campaign. However, they referred back to a case in 2010 where the OFT took enforcement action against a PR agency for paying bloggers to write and tweet about products.

"The internet plays a key role in how people purchase products and services and the importance of online advertising continues to grow," said Heather Clayton, Senior Director of OFT’s Consumer Group.

“The integrity of information published online is crucial so that people can make informed decisions on how to spend their money. We expect online advertising and marketing campaigns to be transparent so consumers can clearly tell when blogs, posts and microblogs have been published in return for payment or payment in kind.

“We expect this to include promotions for products and services as well as editorial content,” added Clayton.

Several of Ferdinand’s followers complained after his burst of tweets.

One user tweeted: “Do you really need the money that badly?” and another added: “I’m not on here to be advertised at”.

A similar pattern of strange tweets, culminating with a message and photograph promoting the chocolate bar also appeared in the Twitter feeds of cricketer Ian Botham, X Factor finalist Cher Lloyd and reality TV star Katie Price over the last few days.

A Snickers spokesperson confirmed that the celebrities were being paid for posting the Twitter ‘adverts’

[Jack_]

I don't think you understood what I meant, and took what I said seriously...

I'm of the opinion that this is pathetic, and it's a ****ing joke.

[Shaun]

gosh how dare they have opinions

[Omah]

gosh how dare they have opinions

They don't ..... they just have a name that can be paid for and used to impress gullible punters ..... ;)

[Omah]

I don't think you understood what I meant, and took what I said seriously...

I'm of the opinion that this is pathetic, and it's a ****ing joke.

So you're seriously upset ..... :conf:

[Jack_]

So you're seriously upset ..... :conf:

No :crazy:

I just think this is over the top, as Shaun said...how dare they have opinions.

If I posted a picture of a Snickers bar on Twitter nothing would happen, so why should it to them just because they're celebrities? It's just ludicrous.

[Omah]

No :crazy:

I just think this is over the top, as Shaun said...how dare they have opinions.

If I posted a picture of a Snickers bar on Twitter nothing would happen, so why should it to them just because they're celebrities? It's just ludicrous.

Because they're (apparently) being paid to deceptively endorse/advertise products - the alleged "opinions" are "marketing communications", which, if not declared, are illegal - in 2010 the OFT successfully took enforcement action against a PR agency for paying bloggers to write and tweet about products

[Jack_]

Because they're (apparently) being paid to deceptively endorse/advertise products - the alleged "opinions" are "marketing communications", which, if not declared, are illegal - in 2010 the OFT successfully took enforcement action against a PR agency for paying bloggers to write and tweet about products

Still seems over the top to me. What difference does it make whether they declare it or not? Why anyone would be interested (and that even goes for why anyone would be interested in whether they like Snickers or not in the first place), I have no idea...

[Omah]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/advertising/rio-katie-and-the-twitter-snickers-adverts-that-left-mars-feeling-bitter-6295398.html

In a co-ordinated campaign, Snickers paid Rio Ferdinand, Amir Khan, Ian Botham, Katie Price and the X Factor contestant Cher Lloyd to post "twitpics" of themselves with Snickers bars to coincide with a television advertising campaign Mars is running.

Marketers have become increasingly desperate to reach the huge audience on Twitter, a rapidly growing media platform which does not carry banner advertising. Ferdinand, one of Twitter's most fervent users, has amassed nearly two million followers, a larger audience than some prime-time television shows. Price has more than 1.5 million followers, Lloyd has 900,000, Khan has more than 460,000 and @BeefyBotham has attracted more than 45,000 adherents. By contrast, many corporate brands have set up accounts but struggled to attract interest. Snickers UK boasted only 825 followers last night.

Mars has claimed its use of celebrity tweeting is within the rules and that it sent out a later tweet to make clear the stars were involved in a promotion.

But the ASA said yesterday that it had received complaints in relation to Ferdinand and Price and had launched a formal investigation into Mars. It is investigating whether the company should have labelled the initial tweets as marketing communications and whether the "reveal" tweets which were sent 90 minutes later to explain that the pictures were advertising were sufficiently clearly labelled for followers to understand.

Under Office of Fair Trading guidelines, advertisers are required to be transparent when promoting products via social media. But advertising on Twitter remains a grey area. Stars frequently use the platform to promote their products.