Recently, Chiara Ferragni, an Italian head fashion blogger, was involved in the controversy because she endorsed a traditional Christmas cake, and was fined by the Italian anti-monopoly agency (AGCM) for misleading consumers.
It is reported that Chiara Ferragni, a national treasure online celebrity with more than 30 million fans, was accused of misleading consumers into thinking that buying the product would contribute to charity, so she was fined 1 million euros.
On the eve of Christmas in 2022, Chiara Ferragni’s company launched a traditional Christmas cake, which cost as much as 9 euros each, far exceeding the average market price of 4 euros, causing widespread concern.
The reason for the controversy is that the packaging of this traditional Christmas cake is marked with the guide of charitable donation, which makes the buyer mistakenly think that part of the money will be donated to a bone cancer research charity in Turin.
However, the actual situation is quite different. Before the product went on the market, Chiara Ferragni’s own industry, the pastry production company, only paid a fixed donation of 50,000 euros to the research center. Since then, the sales and profits of the product have not flowed to charity.
According to the accusation of the Italian anti-monopoly agency, the pastry production company made a profit of at least 1 million euros from the sale of this “charity product”. In addition to Chiara Ferragni being fined, the production company was also fined 420,000 euros for its ambiguous marketing behavior.
Chiara Ferragni questioned the punishment imposed by the anti-monopoly agency in response, and will take the form of appeal to safeguard her rights and interests, and stressed that the cooperation with the pastry production company is a completely goodwill “commercial transaction”. The incident triggered a public discussion about celebrity endorsements and charity marketing.
Post time: Dec-20-2023