The gifted child
How Vogue and Spencer’s son is a social media star in his own right
THEY’RE rich and beautiful, so it was inevitable that the son of Vogue Williams and Spencer Matthews would be born into a life of privilege.
But it seems that even at the tender age of just six months little Theodore is already showing signs of being ‘a gifted child’; or at least he is a most gifted baby, with brands and businesses sending the family a plethora of free clothes, toys and baby products for the tot.
Vogue is successful in her own right, but her star quality and profile was given a considerable boost when she met and married the former Made in Chelsea star. As well as her TV and modelling
‘People could, quite rightly, feel misled’
career, Vogue is also a hugely successful Instagrammer with more than 562,000 followers.
Spencer boasts an even bigger social media reach with 731,000 people following his London life and antics.
So with a combined following of almost 1.3 million people, it is no surprise that brands are beating a path to their social media platforms – hoping to gain business and brand awareness by giving the couple expensive products.
However, until last month, gifts that were promoted online largely went unnoticed as there was no rule in place for influencers in the UK to declare that they had been given a product free of charge.
Following the example of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASAI) in Ireland, the UK advertising watchdog, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), has introduced stringent new measures to ensure that bloggers, Instagrammers and celebrities make full disclosure of all products they are paid to promote. Any gifts must be fully disclosed by using the hashtag #gift.
In the last week alone baby Theo has received a couture Moschino outfit from clothes store Childsplay Clothing, a cute Pio Pio London babygrow, an Emile et Rose blue two-piece, and a cot from Dublin baby shop Baby Elegance, for his nursery in Howth.
And new mum Vogue also received a few free gifts for herself in the past week, including a mirror for her bedroom. She is also being paid to promote New Look clothing along with her husband, and is working with numerous beauty products as well as a London salon.
Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA, said: ‘Influencers can have a huge impact on what their fans decide to buy. People could, quite rightly, feel misled if what they thought was a recommendation from someone they admired turns out to be a marketing ploy.’