A consumer complaint against Pippa O'Connor for her use of Instagram has again been upheld by the Advertising Standard Authority.

A complainant noted that two posts by the influencer and entrepreneur promoting her POCO brand on Instagram stories were not identified as advertising with a hashtag such as #ad.

The first post, a video promoting a POCO product being back in stock, contained the caption “They’re baaaacckk!”, a hyperlink to the product that was labelled "BRIGHT EYES", and a tag for the POCO page.

The second post featured three POCO products with the caption “Our box of 3 sheet masks are also back in stock”.

The official social media page of the company was tagged alongside a hyperlink to the products labelled “WINTER SKIN SAVIOURS”.

The ASA complaints council upheld as there is "an onus on all advertisers to ensure that their marketing communications are in conformity" with the ASA code. The ASA also expressed concern at O'Connor's failure to respond to the complaint.

The council noted its code requires that marketing communications should be clear that they are marketing communications and should not misrepresent their true purpose such as being presented as user-generated content.

Advertising content should have one of three primary labels as a disclosure: #ad, a platform provided tool or #gifted.  

"The Council noted that the advertising content had not included a primary identification label and therefore had not been correctly identified as advertising material, and as such, likely to mislead consumers about the nature of the content," the ASA said.

It ordered that the advertising should not reappear in the same format, and reminded all parties of the requirements of the guidance in disclosing commercial content.

A previous complaint against O'Connor for failing to sufficiently identify adverts for POCO on social media was upheld in December.

Photo: Pippa O'Connor Ormond pictured at the launch of her POCO Beauty beauty line at the Westbury Hotel, Dublin in 2023. (Pic: Brian McEvoy)