Sophie Cachia probed over ‘life changing’ product post
Pyjama mogul and influencer Sophie Cachia has landed in hot water over a post declaring her love for a “life changing” tech accessory.
Victoria
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An Instagram post by Melbourne influencer and businesswoman Sophie Cachia about her “life changing” phone charging cable has landed her in hot water.
The Ad Standards community panel investigated Cachia’s story on Instagram promoting a Cygnett charger following concerns it was not distinguishable advertising.
Cachia, who co-owns hugely successful Cachia sleepwear brand and has 267,000 Instagram followers, posted a photo of herself holding up the charging cable with the words: “Found my baby!!!! @cygnett Nobody charges my phone like this cord here.”
She added: “Whenever I lose it, it’s devastating (aka Bobby steals it for his iPad) I will neverrrrrrr go back to any other cord.”
She even added a link to the Cygnett website.
But the Cygnett ambassador declared the post was not sponsored.
“Not spon, just simply life changing when you need your phone constantly & charged SO fast,” she wrote.
The complaint to Ad Standards said: “Sophie is obviously getting paid to be an ongoing ambassador for this product/brand (Cygnett) and should clearly display that it is a paid post.”
Influencers are required to acknowledge if they are being paid or sponsored for a post on social media.
Cygnett had told the panel it had an agreement with Cachia for paid brand endorsements but that this post was done without their knowledge.
“This agreement includes Sophie posting an agreed number of social media posts/reels each month,” the tech accessories company said.
“All of these posts are planned ahead of schedule with Sophie Cachia and her team.
“This is the first time to our knowledge that Sophie has ever posted about Cygnett outside her paid agreement.”
The company said it would instruct Cachia’s team to “ensure all future Cygnett brand posts call out her partnership”.
But Cygnett asked: “If an influencer decides to post without permission or knowledge of a brand, why is the brand held responsible?”
The community panel found Cygnett was in breach of the advertising code of ethics.
It ruled the content was advertising and should have been declared as such.
“This case acts as a reminder to all advertisers to ensure that the influencers they engage with are aware of the rules and are upfront about any advertising content,” the panel ruled.
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