Latest news with #JulieHaynes
Irish Times
08-08-2025
- Automotive
- Irish Times
Two online influencers found in breach of advertising standards over product posts
Two influencers have been found in breach of advertising standards for failing to make it more clear that posts promoting BPerfect Cosmetic products were in fact advertisements. One, Julie Haynes, who hosts a podcast and who posts on Instagram under the title Twins and Me, was also the subject of complaints with regard to her promotion of Estrid Studios products. The complaints were over what the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) found to be a failure to adhere to guidelines on the labelling of posts as advertising. With regard to the BPerfect Cosmetic complaints, on-screen notices were found to have involved text that was partly obscured, so it was not instantly clear to viewers it was an advertisement. READ MORE One complainant also suggested Ms Haynes was using a filter when applying the cosmetics , something that would affect how the products appeared on her skin. Responding to the BPerfect complaint, an agent for Ms Haynes denied the filter suggestion, but the complaint was upheld. No response was received by the ASA with regard to the Estrid advertising complaint. The watchdog was critical about the lack of a response. It is the second time in a matter of weeks the ASA has upheld complaints against Ms Haynes , who has more than 200,000 Instagram followers. Another influencer, Sarah O'Connor, who posts on Instagram as @sarahburke_x and has more than 60,000 followers, was also found to have failed to label clearly as an advertisement a presentation to camera she did promoting BPerfect products. The advertising standards watchdog also upheld a complaint against Ryanair . A customer said they had bought a flight in a promotion billed on the company's website as a 'big summer sale', which included the claim 'prices will rise'. The customer said the price of some flights actually went down afterwards and a month later the one they bought was still available for a lower price online. Ryanair said – at the time it was responding to the ASA about the complaint – that the flight cost more, so its advertising had been accurate. However, the complaint was upheld. So too was one against a television advertisement for the Dacia Sandero car. It was suggested the commercial contained depictions of the vehicle being driven without due care and attention, at speed and by people who seemed distracted as they were pictured singing. 'The complainant conceded that while it was likely the advertisement was filmed in a controlled environment they did not find it acceptable to depict unsafe driving styles and behaviours,' the ASA said. 'They believed this to be especially inappropriate in the context of recent deaths on our roads.' Other complaints to be upheld included one against discount supermarket Lidl by its rival Aldi. In a social media and press campaign run by Lidl, a rosette was featured at one point with the wording 'Ireland's best value supermarket'. The press version also included the line: 'The results are in. Lidl is Ireland's best value supermarket.' Aldi complained that the impression had been given that an independent process had taken place and its rival had won an award. The ASA acknowledged the claim contained in the advertisement was based on data provided by a third party. However, it said insufficient information had been submitted to it to allow a judgment on whether the subsequent claims were justified. It said it considered the advertising 'was likely to mislead consumers'. Another complaint upheld was against Zeon Healthcare in relation to claims it made for its Macu Save food supplement. A complainant suggested the claim that the product was 'clinically researched' gave the impression it was a licensed medicine that could help treat age-related macular degeneration, an eye condition. Three different complaints were upheld in this instance.
Irish Times
25-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Social media influencer posted ‘misleading' adverts on Instagram
A social media influencer who featured ad disclosures in white fonts on white backgrounds and 'obscured' ad labels behind her profile picture has been found to be in breach of advertising rules. Influencer and podcast host Julie Haynes, who has 219,000 followers, posted advertisements for various companies on her Instagram profile, Twins and Me, which were found to be misleading by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). Overall, nine advertisements, including those from Eir and daa , were found to be in breach of advertising rules, according to the ASA's latest complaints bulletin. Five advertisements promoting jewellery and beauty products posted on social media by Ms Haynes resulted in seven complaints, all of which were upheld in full. READ MORE In one advertisement, for beauty company Image ADS, Ms Haynes disclosed the content as being an ad but did so in 'small white text on a white background', with the complainant saying it was 'barely visible'. A subsequent photo featured a 'pink', on-screen label stating, '30% off'. The complainant also maintained that Ms Haynes used a 'filter' in an image demonstrating the results of using the advertiser's dermaplaning product, arguing this was 'misleading'. Separately, Ms Haynes posted content of her and her daughter attaching charms to Crocs footwear along with an affiliate link, a type of performance-based marketing where influencers are rewarded by a business for each new customer they attract. Ms Haynes labelled the content 'AF', presumably to denote that it was an affiliate link, the ASA said, though this should have read: '#ad'. [ Influencers face the not so glamorous reality of regulation Opens in new window ] It added that the font colour, size and placement of the disclosure, behind her profile picture, 'minimised its visibility or fully obscured it'. Responding to one of the complaints, Ms Haynes' agent said they had reminded her of the advertising guidelines 'and the importance of adhering to them'. Meanwhile, five complaints were received in relation to a radio advertisement from daa, which mentioned 'halving airport emissions by 2030'. Complainants, including Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan , argued the claim gave the impression that all emissions related to the airport, including flight emissions, would be halved. They argued the reference to halving airport emissions referred exclusively to emissions relating to the airport only. The ASA agreed and considered the ad to be misleading. Separately, a sponsored post on Facebook by telecoms company Eir, which advertised a free laptop worth €329 with the purchase of a smartphone for €99, was found to be misleading. The advertisement failed to note that consumers had to enter into a contract to avail of the offer. [ Advertisting Standards Authority upholds five complaints against fitness influencer Opens in new window ] Eir denied the advertisement was misleading, as a consumer could click through to the 'clear and correct details of the offer'. It argued this was 'common practice in the industry'. Orla Twomey, chief executive of the ASA, said its latest complaints bulletin was 'particularly noteworthy' as all cases were found to be in breach on grounds related to misleading advertising. 'This highlights the importance of advertisers using only substantiated claims and influencers clearly disclosing commercial content,' she said.
Irish Times
22-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Irish influencers trolled on Tattle life: ‘They said I'm a bad mum. That I'm ugly. They wrote my address on it'
Earlier this week, Co Antrim entrepreneurs Neil and Donna Sands were awarded £300,000 (€352,000) in libel damages following a defamation and harassment lawsuit over abusive comments posted on gossip website Tattle Life. Tattle Life describes itself as a platform for 'commentary and critiques of people that choose to monetise their personal life as a business and release it into the public domain'. Users post messages and discuss influencers and others with an online profile, many of whom complain they are being trolled. A number of Irish influencers have been the subject of negative 'threads' on Tattle Life. The judge in the case, heard in Belfast , said it had been set up to deliberately inflict hurt and harm on others by allowing the anonymous trashing of people's reputations. The site was revealed on Friday, June 13th, as being operated by UK national Sebastian Bond. Julie Haynes' Instagram account Twins and Me has 218,000 followers. She first became aware of Tattle Life when one of her own online followers sent her a link to a comment posted about her on the site, she says. READ MORE 'I was sent a screenshot and then I went on and I was scrolling through the threads, and I was like, what the hell? ... They were saying stuff like I take drugs.' None of it was true, she says. 'Writing stuff like that is absolutely horrific,' Haynes says, but it didn't stop there. Haynes' father died during Covid. 'We had five people at the funeral. Me, my mam, my brother and my twins. And we had a camera set up in the church because we were allowed to do that at the time, and you just basically livestreamed it and family and friends at home were able to tune in. The link then was put up on Tattle Life and every single one of my trolls tuned in.' Her young son needed to go to the toilet during the funeral, and so she brought him. Comments followed that she had 'walked out of the church' and that the funeral was like 'an episode of EastEnders'. 'Every single move I made' was commented on, Haynes says. 'She's drunk, that's why she's run out of the church. She had to go get sick.' Julie Haynes and her children Erin Rose and Fionn Haynes says she has seen comments stating that she's 'a bad mum. That I'm ugly'. Her mother had breast cancer two years ago and had a mastectomy. Haynes shared her mother's experience with her followers, but because her mother's recovery was deemed quick by some she was accused of making the story up 'for content'. 'They wrote my address on it, saying that 'I'd love to go down Julie's house in X and kick ... her. They write about my children all the time. What they call my kids is absolutely horrific, they screenshot them. I'm so, so upset.' [ Women in Ireland increasingly subjected to online hate and misogyny, groups warn Opens in new window ] Haynes says she has considered taking her children offline. 'No one should be calling these children those names,' she says. Her social media presence is an income source. 'Only for my social media, I'd have nothing,' she says. 'I'm a single mum … I do all this for my kids. And the only way I can go for [a] mortgage is by working. To earn a couple of bob I do my social media but these trolls, then, are trying to ruin it.' For brands looking to work with influencers, 'the first thing you do is check Google and the first thing that pops up when you put in my name is all these Tattle threads'. Louise Cooney has 250,000 followers on Instagram. She became aware of Tattle Life around the time of the Covid pandemic. 'It has completely changed my life for the last five years. It's something I've never spoken about. It's incredibly traumatising and hurtful. Some of the things that have been said and written, and not having control over your digital footprint in that way, is really upsetting,' says Cooney. Louise Cooney: 'It's like a free-for-all because no one has put in rules' 'It's made me less trusting of people,' she says. 'It makes me second-guess people's intentions. And it makes me question everything that I do, how I share.' She says it's good to be cautious about sharing. Cooney stays away from the site as much as possible. She says she doesn't want the upset and stress it causes her to have an impact on her toddler son. 'Once or twice I've had a weak moment ... All it does is upset me. Why do I look? But then, if you know it's there and other people can read it, sometimes curiosity can get the better of you,' she says. 'We grew up in a generation ... we're the first ones doing this, and it's like a free-for-all because no one has put in rules.' Cooney says some people who believe that comment posted on the internet is anonymous and that they can't be traced perhaps don't realise that 'technology is advancing all the time. And of course it can be traced.' The experience has had an effect on her mental health: 'I definitely experience anxiety because of it.' Sisters Sue Jordan and Corrina Stone have, combined, almost 66,000 followers on Instagram and run the Mums on the Run group on Facebook. Sue Jordan and Corrina Stone Jordan first became aware of Tattle Life a few years ago when someone sent her a link to a thread, after she had been on the Elaine show with presenter Elaine Crowley on Virgin Media. Jordan had kept her job, working in frontline homeless services, very separate from her online presence, never speaking about her work due to its sensitive nature, she says. 'So to have people go on there and say this is what I do, keep an eye out for me, it put me in danger … I never shared that information ever. How dare anybody do that? But then it evolved into calling me an alcoholic. No such thing, never was. This is stuff that could actually affect my real-life job.' She describes what happens on Tattle Life as 'systemic harassment and abuse'. Tattle Life has had a 'massive' impact on Stone. She says there have been posts saying her children have a 'horrendous upbringing' and that they 'hate' her. 'They tried to savage my kids, my older kids, their dress sense, their fashion sense, their choices – everything,' Stone says. She says she has mostly stopped attending events. 'I think it's because I don't want to put myself out there any more to be slapped down every time. It's constantly in your head.' 'I've stopped going out generally. Other than school runs and groceries ... I've a tiny friend circle,' she says.
