ANGHARAD NEAGLE

celebrity to have faced criticism for promoting diet products they claim have resulted in dramatic weight loss – with many people voicing concerns about the impact posts by celebrities about socalled slimming teas, coffees, shakes and even diet lollipops could have on young impressionable followers.

One of the latest examples of where influencer marketing has hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons is Fyre Festival. Currently the subject of not one, but two documentaries commissioned by Netflix and Hulu, it was billed as the party of a decade on a deserted island.

Promoted by famous faces including Kendall Jenner, who was reportedly paid $250,000 (£193,000) for one single Instagram post, guests were promised “the best in food, art, music and adventure” in the Bahamas. Instead, they found rain-drenched disaster-relief tents, limp cheese sandwiches served in polystyrene trays – and no sign of the promised music acts. The festival never took place and its organiser, Billy McFarland, is now in prison for fraud.

In light of the financial loss of those who bought tickets; the Bahamians, whose labour was unpaid; and the six-year prison sentence for its creator, the CMA’s proactive approach has never been more timely. The new guidance to ensure that influencers are aware of the impact their posts have is long overdue and the demands for transparency from those with a platform is muchneeded. As the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility.