Love Island star joins campaign to educate influencers about financial promotions

finextra.com:

In recent years financial brands, most notably crypto outfits, have turned to influencers to promote their products to millions of social media users. But, the trend has caught the attention of regulators: just last month in the US the SEC charged eight celebrities - including actress Lindsay Lohan and YouTube star Jake Paul - for illegally touting crypto asset tokens without disclosing that they were paid for doing so.

In the UK, the FCA made interventions that led to 8,582 promotions being amended or withdrawn during 2022 - 14 times more than 2021. Now the watchdog is teaming up with the Advertising Standards Authority on an educational blitz, producing an infographic and inviting influencer agents and the Influencer Marketing Trade Body to an open roundtable discussion.

Sarah Pritchard, executive director, markets, FCA, says: "We’ve seen more cases of influencers touting products that they shouldn’t be. They are often doing this without knowledge of the rules and without understanding of the harm they could cause their followers.

"We want to work with influencers so they keep on the right side of the law, as this will also help protect people from being shown scams or investments that are too risky." Love Island star Gaffka has been brought onboard to help spread the word. She says: "When you leave a show like Love Island, you are bombarded with opportunities to promote products and work with brands, if like me, you’re new to this kind of work, it can be a little bit overwhelming.