Chiara Ferragni, the most influential person in Italy, has recently issued an apology for misleading customers regarding the purchase of a Christmas cake.
Due to the fact that she claimed that the proceeds from the sale of a "designer" pink pandoro would contribute to the funding of a children's hospital in Turin, Ms. Ferragni, who has approximately 30 million followers on Instagram, was fined €1.075 million (£927,000).
The competition watchdog discovered that the manufacturer of the cake had donated money to the hospital several months prior to the debut of the cake.
Mr. Ferragni, who is 36 years old, has pledged to give one million euros to the Regina Margherita hospital. She admitted that she had made a "mistake in good faith... to link a commercial activity with a philanthropic one" in a message that she shared with individuals who follow her on social media.
She appeared to be on the edge of tears as she announced that she will file an appeal against the decision and "disproportionate and unreasonable" fine that was handed down by the AGCM antitrust regulator.
In the previous year, the "Pandoro Pink Christmas" was sold for more than nine euros, which is significantly higher than the price of the typical unbranded pandoro that is manufactured by the Balocco company. The "Pandoro Pink Christmas" was labelled as having been designed by Ms. Ferragni.
On Friday of last week, the watchdog discovered that purchasers of the pandoro cake with the Ferragni brand had been misled into believing that their purchases would contribute to the purchase of medical equipment for the hospital, which would be used for the treatment of children who were diagnosed with osteosarcoma and Ewing's sarcoma.
Anger regarding the matter spurred Prime Minister Georgia Meloni to make a statement over the weekend criticising influencers who pushed "expensive desserts that make people believe they are generous." However, she did not specifically identify Ms. Ferragni in her statement.
One critic stated that now that the "do-gooder" pandoro with pink icing sugar had been shown to be a piece of garbage, Italians were wondering where that left "the princess of influencers as well as queen of social media."
Codacons, a consumer advocacy organisation, announced that it would initiate legal action in order to obtain compensation for individuals who had purchased the cake under the mistaken impression that they were contributing to the Turin children's hospital.
The company announced that it would be submitting accusations with 104 Italian prosecutors saying that the fraud was exacerbated.
According to the AGCM watchdog, consumers' "sensitivity to philanthropic projects, especially those assisting youngsters with critical illnesses" had been exploited by deceptive advertising.
The document went on to state that this was a violation of Italy's consumer legislation and constituted unfair commercial practice.
It imposed a fine of more than one million euros on two firms that control Chiara Ferragni's trademarks and rights, as well as a fine of four hundred and twenty thousand euros on the company that made the cake, Balocco.
In addition, it was stated that Balocco had already made a donation to the hospital in the amount of €50,000 some months prior to the cake being made available for purchase, and that the corporation had paid Ms. Ferragni's two companies almost €1 million for the marketing.
