A Twitter campaign for Snickers – featuring Rio Ferdinand and Katie Price – has been cleared by the ad watchdog following the first investigation into a marketing push on the social media site.
The Advertising Standards Authority dismissed complaints over the ads, which consisted of groups of tweets, incongruous with the celebrities’ normal postings.
Price, who has 1.5 million followers, tweeted “Great news about China’s latest GDP figures!!”, “Chinese leaders are now likely to loosen monetary policy to stimulate growth. Yay!!”, “OMG!! Eurozone debt problems can only properly be solved by true fiscal union!!! #comeonguys”, “Large scale quantitative easing in 2012 could distort liquidity of govt. bond market. #justsayin” and “You’re not you when you’re hungry @snickersUk #hungry #spon …”. The final tweet also included a picture of Katie Price holding a Snickers bar.
Meanwhile, Ferdinand with 2.3 million followers, posted: “Really getting into the knitting!!! Helps me relax after high-pressure world of the Premiership”, “Can’t wait 2 get home from training and finish that cardigan”, “Just popping out 2 get more wool!!!”, “Cardy finished. Now 4 the matching mittens!!!” and “You’re not you when you’re hungry @snickersUk#hungry#spon …”. The final tweet also included a picture of Ferdinand holding a Snickers bar.
The ASA dismissed the objections, accepting Mars’ argument that the tweets contained the tag “spon” to indicate sponsored content.
The fifth tweets were the only ones that featured the product and were therefore the only marketing communications involved, ruled the watchdog.
It concluded: “We considered the combination of those elements was sufficient to make clear the tweets were advertising and that consumers would then understand each series of tweets was a marketing communication.”
