Chiara Ferragni's Christmas has suffocated her. The queen of influencers has been fined almost 1.1 million euros for deceiving consumers with the promotion of a typical cake of these dates, the pandoro, the alternative to the famous panettone, the sale of which supposedly had a charitable purpose. The profits, however, only sweetened the accounts of the businesswoman and the brand, Balocco, who barely donated 50,000 euros to a hospital in Turin in a single payment made, moreover, months before the launch of the product. The case has unleashed such a scandal in Italy that even the prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has jumped on the wave of criticism this weekend: “The real role models are not the influencers who make a lot of money wearing clothes and showing bags. ..or even promoting expensive cakes that make people believe they are charitable. A real zasca.
The 'pandorogate' actually dates back to Christmas last year when Ferragni, as it is known in its country, took advantage of its social networks to advertise a special edition – with its surname – of the pandoro manufactured by Balocco. With almost 30 million followers on Instagram alone, each of her posts has a huge impact and the promotion of this cake was no exception. And the price of the cake (9 euros) was double that of a normal one (less than 4) from the same brand. The reason, or so it was said, was that part of the profits would go to a charity for bone cancer research in a Turin hospital.
The investigation by the Italian Competition and Market Guarantee Authority (AGCOM) discovered the cake months later. There were no such charitable purposes, except for a specific payment of 50,000 euros by Balocco before Ferragni Pandoro went on the market, nor had the influencer's companies made any donations. The organization believes that both the advertising and the higher price of the cake led consumers to think that they were contributing to a charitable cause. An error for which those responsible have paid dearly since the fine for the businesswoman reaches 1,075 million, more or less what she charged for the promotion, and the pastry company will have to pay 420,000 euros. Both have expressed their disagreement with their respective fines.
coup d'effect
But the influencer, who promotes ice cream as well as hair dryers, apart from the varied list of products from her own brand, with her iconic eye, knows the damage that this scandal can cause to her image and, above all, to her billionaire. emporium. Tearful, and with her voice almost broken, Ferragni has counterattacked through Instagram, with a video in which she apologizes for what happened: “I apologize.” The misleading advertising for which the AGCOM has imposed a historic fine was due, according to her, to her making “a communication error.” «My mistake in good faith was to link a commercial activity with communication to a solidarity one. Unfortunately you can make mistakes, I regret having done it and I realize that I could have done better », she summarizes this Monday in a recording that only four hours after its publication exceeded 18.5 million views.
The businesswoman will appeal the fine and has already announced that she will donate one million euros from her pocket to the Queen Margaret Hospital in Turin.
The forgiveness of Ferragni, 36 years old and married to the musician Fedez, with whom she forms the lucrative alliance of the 'Ferragnez', 'docu-reality' included, also includes a coup d'état. The businesswoman announces in her video that she will donate one million euros from her own pocket to the Queen Margaret Hospital in Turin “to support the care of children.” An amount almost identical to the sanction, which she considers “disproportionate and unfair.” The Pandoro has made the end of the year bitter for the influencer.
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