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Giveaways on social media are exceedingly common nowadays, and a great way for influencers and businesses to boost the number of followers they have. Another celebrity however has been found by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to be in breach of the rules governing competitions.

Molly-Mae Hague, who shot to fame when she was a member of Love Island, posted a competition on Instagram. The prizes included tanning foams that were sold under her own brand, Louis Vuitton handbags and Apple products. Participants had to like the post, subscribe to certain Instagram and YouTube accounts and tag a friend to be in with a chance of winning.

The ASA investigated following a number of complaints about whether the winner was in fact selected at random. Molly-Mae supposedly claimed that a member of her management team had manually selected 100 entrants at random and assigned each a number before using a number-picking tool to choose a winner, but one of her previous Instagram Stories suggests that the winner had actually been picked from a list of 25 individuals and there was no evidence to prove that the winner had been selected randomly using computer-generated software.

The influencer said that the response to the competition had been ‘overwhelming and unexpected’, with the competition post receiving well over 1 million likes. She also claimed that she did not believe that the giveaway was a promotion falling within the rules. The ASA held however that the competition had not been administered fairly and that she must take greater steps in future competitions to ensure that they are conducted properly.

Whilst she has defended herself on Instagram, there have been a number of upset entrants posting their feelings on social media, along with other influencers branding her approach as ‘lazy’. This is proof that even if you are not subject to a fine, an investigation such as this can have a considerable impact on your reputation and the trust others place in you. Receiving more interest in a competition than you initially anticipated does not allow you to ignore the rules.