OFT warns Olympic athletes against ‘deceptive’ advertising tweets
The Office of Fair Trading has warned Olympic athletes against sending promotional tweets about products without revealing their relationship with the brand.
It has been revealed that some of the athletes are tweeting several times a day about products they are being sponsored by, without mentioning that they are being paid to promote the brand.
The OFT has warned that this is deceptive, and that celebrities must make it clear if they are being given goods by the brand as part of a sponsorship deal.
Jenna Randall is one athlete being accused of this, with the Braun-sponsored synchronised swimmer sending tweets including ‘Using my #BraUn silk-epil 7 Epilator... Legs feel amazing! All ready for training tomorrow.’
However, she does mention in her Twitter blurb who she is sponsored by, unlike cyclist Jessica Varnish, who has sent messages such as ‘@JessicaNails I won the team sprint at London world cup and we set a new WORLD record! Wearing Jessica nail Varnish!!’