In Dec. 2023, fashion influencer Chiara Ferragni found herself in Italian antitrust controversy over what she characterized as a breakdown in communication, but that nonetheless will cost companies owned by Ferragni around 1 million euros, according to the Italian antitrust authority (AGCM).
On Dec. 18, 2023, Reuters reported that the AGCM investigated claims made by Ferragni’s companies in a late-2022 cross-promotion regarding sales of a Christmas cake, the proceeds from which would ostensibly benefit a bone cancer research hospital in Turin, Italy.
The types of cakes marketed in the campaign were sold at a premium, compared to other Italian Christmas cakes, and Ferragni’s companies were paid a one-time fee for the endorsement.
The cakemaker, Balocco, was also investigated and ordered to pay a 420,000 euro fine stemming from the investigation. Ferragni’s companies were reportedly paid more than 1 million euros in the deal.
Promised donations have failed to materialize
Central to the Italian antitrust authority’s ruling, Chiara Ferragni’s companies donated nothing to the cancer research hospital, despite their promise. Meanwhile, the cakemaker Balocco gave one large lump sum to the hospital before the Christmas cake campaign began. However, no other donations were made after sales started, misleading Italian consumers, according to the AGCM.
In an Instagram post, a visibly upset Ferragni apologized for what she called a “good faith” deal gone wrong. “I realize I have made a communications error … my error, in good faith, was to link, via communications, a commercial activity with a charity one, ” she said.
In her post, Ferragni — who was 36 when the scandal erupted, and a world-famous influencer with millions of online followers — said she would donate 1 million euros to the Turin hospital. But the AGCM fine was unjust, she added. Ferragni and the cake maker, Balocco, said they will appeal the ruling.
The Ferragni case was big news in Italy
The alleged fraud between Chiara Ferragni’s brands and the cake maker shocked Italy, reaching beyond the world of advertising and online fashion influencers to Italian politics.
“The real models to follow are not the influencers who make a lot of money by wearing clothes and showing bags … or even promoting expensive cakes that make people believe they are charitable,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said, indirectly referring to the Ferragni controversy (via Reuters).