Miriam: Fake face cream and job loss ads upset my family
MIRIAM O’Callaghan has opened up about her ‘upset’ after being the target of fake Facebook adverts that claimed she had been axed from RTÉ and launched a face cream. The popular broadcaster recently revealed that she was planning to take legal action against the online giant after it had failed to act on repeated complaints about the bogus ads. ‘Well it started out that I’d launched my own face cream,’ the 59-year-old explained. ‘But then the clickbait became: “She was so erratic. Her behaviour was so mad. She was being led out of studio. She was axed.”’ While Miriam said she was initially confident that people would know the stories on Facebook were false, hundreds of people, including other broadcasters, believed the lies. ‘At first, I just thought this is so mad no one would believe it but then I realised people were believing it. I even just met Maia Dunphy and she believed I had my own face cream!’
Speaking at yesterday’s launch of Lorraine Keane’s Fashion Relief, which aims to double the €60,000 raised for East Africa last year, the Prime Time presenter said she had no option but to sue after exhausting all possible ways of resolving the issue.
‘Lawyers, myself, RTÉ’s publicist, we all tried to no avail but it got worse,’ she added. ‘It actually became viral.
‘They did upset me,’ she admitted. ‘I’m tough. I stay on Twitter, you know? I’m not one of these presenters who says, “I can’t take these slings and arrows.” I take it but that just really crossed a line.’
Instances in which this packed a particularly powerful punch for Miriam were the effect it had on her mother and her young son.
‘The two that upset me was my mother coming out of Mass ringing me very upset saying, “I didn’t realise you’d left RTÉ love and tell me about your face cream.” ‘And my 12-year-old son texting his dad late at night sending him a picture of me being axed and saying: ‘Dad did you know about this?” He was very upset. I realised then that people then really believed it. Hundreds and hundreds of women believed it and bought the cream. So it’s very serious.’ Facebook has said it removed a large volume of false ads featuring Miriam, although more have appeared since then.
‘Hundreds of women bought the cream’