The companies of the famous Italian ‘influencer’ Chiara Ferragni have been sanctioned with a fine of more than one million euroswhile the Balocco company must pay 420,000 euros, for “improper business practice”The Italian Competition and Market Guarantee Authority (AGCOM) reported today.

These companies “made consumers understand that, when buying the pandoro (traditional Christmas sweet) from Balocco with the name Ferragni would contribute to a donation to the Regina Margherita Hospital in Turin”, which turned out to be false, according to the AGCOM in a statement. The donation in question was 50,000 euros and had already been carried out by Balocco months before, while the companies linked to Chiara Ferragni They raised more than a million euros thanks to this initiative. The known influencer Italian, with more than 29 million followers on social networks and which Forbes magazine has crowned as the most important in the world fashion sector, has a enormous popularity in Italy and together with her husband, rapper Fedez, they form the most “popular” couple in the country.

The Antitrust Authority “sanctioned the companies Fenice and TBS Crew, which manage the brands and rights relating to the personality and personal identity of Chiara Ferragni, respectively, for 400,000 euros and 675,000 euros, and Balocco for 420,000 euros.” The three are accused of “having incurred in unfair trade practice by announcing the ‘Pandoro Pink Christmas’, which bore the name of Chiara Ferragni, making consumers understand that, by purchasing it, they would have contributed to a donation to the Regina Margherita Hospital in Turin to acquire new machinery for the therapeutic treatment of children with osteosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma“.

“The companies Fenice and TBS Crew collected more than one million euros in remuneration for the license of the Ferragni brands and for the production of advertising content without paying anything to the Regina Margherita Hospital in Turin,” explains the AGCOM in its note. Specifically, Antitrust highlights that the unfair practice could be verified in several behaviors, such as “making people believe, in the press release presenting the initiative, that when purchasing the ‘Pandoro Pink Christmas’ for more than 9 euros, instead of around 3.70 euros for the unbranded Pandoro, consumers would contribute to the donation that, in fact, Balocco had already made.

As well as in the dissemination of false information about the donation and the participation of the famous influencer in each Pandoro with the name Ferragni, in addition to the fact that this “was offered to the public at a price of approximately two and a half times the classic Pandoro” (it was sold for 9 euros instead of 3.70), which “had also contributed to misleading consumers by reinforcing their perception that they could contribute to the donation.” “This practice has considerably limited the freedom of consumer choice by increasing their sensitivity towards charitable initiatives, particularly those aimed at helping children affected by serious illnesses”, which represents “an unfair commercial practice, characterized by deceptive elements”, concludes the agency.