Marketing | Responsibility influencer Outi Pyy hopes that influencers marketing Happy flops sandals on social media would withdraw from the campaign

In social in the media in recent months, it has been impossible to avoid advertisements featuring plastic, thick-soled Happy flops sandals. The sandals are sold for 29.99 euros, and you can get them in almost every possible color.

The brand does not directly claim that the sandals have health properties, but says that, for example, those looking for help with knee problems should at least try the products.

HappyFlops can be the answer to them!, it is told on its pages and knee problems are referred to.

The background of Happy flops sandals is a Swedish brand whose products are manufactured in China. The brand’s marketing has attracted attention, for example, in the chat application Jodel.

There, we ask about experiences with the brand’s sandals and wonder why about every other influencer seems to be drumming up support for the product. The brand’s sandals have been advertised by, among other things May Day Pimi, Maria Veitola and Jutta Larm.

The general look of the brand’s Finnish-language website is quickly becoming muddled. The texts look like they were translated with a bad program. The language check has apparently not been done, because for example the brand’s contact information says that company information located in Stockholm.

BRand published his first update on his Instagram account in September 2022. Sandal updates quickly spread on the social media accounts of Nordic influencers.

However, the popularity was also followed by questions about the marketing of the brand.

A brand has been criticized on forums and platforms, for example. On its Instagram account, people ask where the sandals are made, why the delivery times are longer and how the consumer can return the wrong size products.

Consumers have mostly been left without answers. The brand has said as much that its products are made in China.

Consumer reviews website On Trustpilot’s Norwegian site, 32 percent of those who have left a review for the sandals have given them only one star..

Norwegian Minmote lifestyle site reported in July 2023 that the brand changed its marketing in Norway last summer to a more neutral direction after consumer advice took a stand on misleading claims in the website’s publication.

The brand previously said that the sandals would have health benefits. Now it is content to just hint that there is at least no harm in using sandals.

Also Finnish sustainability influencer and sustainability expert of the marketplace Ivalo.com Outi Pyy questioned the brand’s marketing from the beginning of the week. He was the first to tell about it Stop.

On Monday, Pyy wrote in the stories section of his Instagram account that it is a cheap product that has been promoted to a well-known brand “with social hype and aggressive advertising, not to mention product safety”.

Pyy tells HS that behind the Happy flops phenomenon is a campaign in which social media celebrities and influencers have joined without finding out the background. Because the textile industry’s value chains are long and the business methods are diverse, it takes a bit of effort for someone who is not familiar with the matter to find out the background and responsibility of the company or product, according to him.

“But if the background work is not done properly, the influencer may end up promoting a brand that does not match his values. It would seem that in this case the advertising slogans of the advertising company have gone through without criticism,” he says.

Ask for responsibility also from the PR and communication agencies representing the influencers, who look for partners for the influencers and do preliminary investigations.

However, he hopes that the influencers would admit the mistake openly, so that the followers do not lose confidence in the work they do.

“Influencer marketing is effective, and that’s why it should also be responsible,” Pyy emphasizes.

Please according to the same type of sandal has been advertised under different brand names for almost ten years. The sandals have been sold under the names Marshmallow slippers and Cloud slides, among others. The product behind the brand has remained the same cheap product, so according to Pyy, the consumer has paid for the brand alone instead of the quality.

Happy flops sandals are made of ethyl vinyl acetate (EVA). Pyy hopes that the product has at least a certificate guaranteeing product or chemical safety and an audited factory. The brand does not have them, and there is no mention of responsible production on the website.

Now the impression of reliability is sought only through influencers.

Please according to the influencers, it would be reasonable to withdraw the campaign now that there is new information about the product and the brand. He hopes that the influencers will donate the benefit they receive to, for example, organizations doing human rights work in the field, for example Finnwatch or Eetti ry.

Pyy regards the entire campaign as a model example of irresponsible and harmful cheap product marketing that flirts with various claims.

He also has an EU-wide wish.

“I hope that the EU will ban ultra-fast fashion advertising in the future,” says Pyy.

Correction 27.6. 12:57 p.m.: Added information that it is the Norwegian site of consumer review website Trustpilot.