Ronaldo warned against ‘deceitful’ advertising
Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo has been given a warning by the Advertising Standards Authority after two social media posts which plugged products without making clear it is an advert.
The former Manchester United forward had two posts from October that were the subject of a complaint to the ASA by charity researcher Alex May, one for a herbal nutrition product and the other for an expensive muscle massager.
Ronaldo has 105.7 million followers on Twitter and 510 million on Instagram and can earn more than £1 million for a single post.
The ASA responded to the complaint by saying that Ronaldo “has potentially breached our rules”.
The advertising watchdog added: “We have taken steps to address this, by expressing your concerns to the influencer and by providing guidance to them on the areas that require attention.”
If “influencers” such as Ronaldo continue to make social media posts without disclosing clear it is an advertisement – such as by using #ad – they can be added to an ASA list which names and shames those “who routinely fail to clearly disclose when they are advertising to consumers on their social media channels”.
Ronaldo left United by mutual consent last month meaning the club do not have to pay the remaining £16 million in wages that was left on his contract.
That saving appeared to be reflected in the club’s first quarterly results announced this week where it revised its net income forecast – also known as EBITDA – from £100 m-£110 m to £125 m-£140 m “as a result of reduced player wage costs”.
