Make-up brand BPerfect Cosmetics has been slammed by UK advertising watchdog the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over a TikTok video by influencer Stephanie Vavron.
The video, posted in November 2023, featured Vavron, who has previously collaborated with the brand, applying BPerfect products including Chroma foundation, Perfection primer and The Cheek liquid blusher.
She also spoke about going into the BPerfect store in Glasgow, Scotland, to film content for the Irish cosmetics brand.
A user complained that the video did not make Vavron’s commercial relationship with the brand clear and therefore was not sufficiently identifiable as a marketing communication.
BPerfect did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries, which the watchdog said was “concern[ing]” and breached the marketing Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) codes for “unreasonable delay” in responding to a complaint.
However, Vavron’s management responded that the video had not been planned or paid for as it was in response to a user’s comment.
It added that the influencer did not receive any profits from her collaboration with BPerfect, apart from through affiliate links on separate videos.
Despite this, the ASA ruled that the video was not obviously identifiable as a marketing communication and must not appear again in its current form.
It said that Vavron’s mention of her “collab” with BPerfect was not enough to make it clear to TikTok users, particularly those new to the app, that she was promoting her own product with the brand.
BPerfect and Vavron were ordered to make commercial intent of social media posts clear in the future, for example by including identifiers such as #ad.
BPerfect has collaborated with several influencers and social media personalities including former Love Island star Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu and make-up artists Katie Daley and Stacey Marie.