An Italian influencer was fined $1 million for advertising a pink-branded Christmas cake to her fans in 2014, declaring that the earnings would certainly be contributed to charity. However, Italian authorities insist that the guaranteed contribution never ever happened.

Chiara Ferragni that has nearly 30 million fans on Instagram, has actually currently apologised for deceptive customers over acquisitions of a Christmas cake, BBC reported. 

The media electrical outlet claimed that the cake’s manufacturer had actually provided cash to the health center months prior to releasing it. The influencer has actually currently guaranteed to contribute $1 million to the Regina Margherita Hospital. 

In a declaration uploaded on Instagram, the influencer claimed that she made a “mistake in good faith… to link a commercial activity with a charitable one”. 

She likewise claimed that she would certainly appeal versus the AGCM antitrust authority’s judgment and called it a “disproportionate and unjust” penalty.

Last Friday, the guard dog uncovered that buyers of the Ferragni-branded pandoro cake were tricked right into thinking that their procurements would certainly sustain the procurement of clinical devices for the health center, particularly for dealing with youngsters with Osteosarcoma and Ewing’s Sarcoma, BBC reported. 

The debate bordering the circumstance triggered Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to deal with the concern over the weekend break, slamming influencers that back “costly cakes that create the illusion of charitable contributions,” although she avoided discussing Ms. Ferragni by name.

The AGCM guard dog claimed incorrect marketing had actually made use of customers’ “sensitivity to charitable initiatives, especially those aiding children with serious illnesses”. This went against Italy’s customer code and made up unreasonable industrial method, it included.

In November 2022, she presented a cake item in partnership with the Italian bread brand name Balocco. The pandoro, a conventional Italian Christmas treat comparable to panettone, can be found in a pink box rather than the common cheery red, decorated with a picture of Ferragni together with her name and logo design. At that time, she advertised the collaboration on her Instagram as a philanthropic campaign sustaining youngsters going through therapy for bone cancer cells at the Regina Margherita Hospital in Turin, Italy.