Corporations are turning away
Chiara Ferragni falls from the influencer Olympus
January 7, 2024, 9:53 a.m
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Instagram star Chiara Ferragni misleads her almost 30 million followers with a video and even calls the public prosecutor’s office into action. Important companies like Coca-Cola are now distancing themselves.
18 days is probably an awfully long time for an influencer. For 18 days, since the week before Christmas, Chiara Ferragni’s Instagram account has been completely silent. Until the Italian with almost 30 million followers around the world spoke out again for the first time: just a photo in the stories, still without a face, but with midnight black polish on her nails, a cup in her hand, a friendly Buongiorno and a heart in addition. Not a word about the misleading advertising scandal that rocked their international community, including Italy, in the last month of the old year.
New Year New luck? Have you forgotten everything again? If that was the hope, it may prove illusory. Now the first corporate customers, on whom the multi-millionaire’s business model is essentially based, are distancing themselves: the beverage multinational Coca-Cola has just announced that it will abandon an already filmed commercial that was supposed to be broadcast at the end of January for the Sanremo pop festival. For Italy, it’s a bit like Rihanna being quickly thrown out of the Super Bowl halftime break in the USA last year.
You have to know that in terms of prominence at home, Ferragni can easily compete with the right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The 36-year-old, married to the Italian rapper Fedez (14.7 million followers) and mother of two small children, is also known to many in Germany. In recent years she has masterfully played in the gossip columns and social channels, including having her own reality show on television. In addition to her sales talent, she increasingly commented on social issues.
Not a piece of the cake was given away
The disbelief, disappointment and anger were all the greater when the national antitrust authority AGCM imposed a million euro fine on them for unfair competition shortly before Christmas. The reason: Ferragni had led her huge community to believe that a large portion of the proceeds from a cake she advertised called “Pink Christmas” (price: nine euros) would go to a children’s cancer ward. In fact, despite selling more than 360,000 cakes, the Regina Margherita Hospital in Turin did not receive a single cent. Campaigns for Easter eggs and a doll may have had similar patterns. The issue is now preoccupying some public prosecutors.
Prime Minister Meloni took the Ferragni case as an opportunity to have a new law examined for more transparency in such Internet sites. There were nasty comments on Ferragni’s Instagram account. Her luxury boutique in Rome was daubed with inscriptions such as “Bandita” (bandit) and “Truffatrice” (“fraud”).
Shortly before the festival, she finally released an apology video, but that made things even worse. Ferragni presented himself in a badly staged sinner’s pose: subtle make-up, in mouse-gray knitwear, a fragile voice, close to tears. She spoke of a “communication error”, wanted to avoid such “misunderstandings” in the future and announced that she would donate one million euros to the children’s cancer ward in Turin. At the same time, she declared that she was contesting the cartel office’s decision and wanted to get the money back. Many people didn’t believe her appearance.
Does the Internet forget?
Shortly afterwards, the eyewear manufacturer Safilo (brands like “Boss”) was the first company to terminate their cooperation with her. Almost at the same time as the return to Instagram, Coca-Cola also announced that it would stop working with the influencer until further notice. Other previous advertising partners are closely following what is happening: Italian companies such as the luxury fashion manufacturer Tod’s and the lingerie brands Intimissimi and Calzedonia, but also international corporations such as L’Oréal, Nestlé and Procter & Gamble.
How things will turn out for Ferragni and her company is still unclear. According to information from the magazine “Oggi”, the influencer has now lost more than 70,000 followers on Instagram. In addition, many are said to have said goodbye quietly. Marketing expert Giampaolo Colletti says: “The crisis that Ferragni is experiencing takes us into unknown territory. This is the first fall from the Olympus of influencers.” What is more important to her than anything else is regaining credibility. So far, most experts are of the opinion that the Internet does not forgive, but it also quickly forgets.
At the moment the signs are not yet clear. At the start of the Italian winter sales this weekend, Ferragni’s boutique in Rome remained relatively empty. The saleswomen were busy folding sweaters. On the other hand: The mouse gray jumpsuit made of wool and angora (price: 600 euros) that Ferragni wore in her apology video was completely sold out shortly afterwards. The colors black and white are now completely sold out.