Tweets sent by Rio Ferdinand and Katie Price promoting Snickers are to be formally investigated by the Advertising Standards Authority.

Following complaints, the ASA will look into whether the tweets were in breach of advertising rules by failing to adequately inform the public they were part of a marketing campaign.

Ferdinand and Price, along with Ian Botham, Amir Khan and X Factor’s Cher Lloyd have all been paid to promote the chocolate bar.

When Sky News contacted Snickers earlier this week, a spokesperson said a series of “teaser tweets” had been sent out to “comply with social media regulations” to “ensure Twitter users knew they were enjoying promotional tweets”.

But the ASA will investigate whether it was clear the celebrity was getting paid to advertise the product.

Katie Price also tweeted a picture with a Snickers bar

In a statement the regulator said: “The ASA has launched a formal investigation into tweets by Katie Price and Rio Ferdinand to establish whether Mars’ @SnickersUK#hungry#spon campaign is in breach of the Advertising Codes.

“We are investigating two points: (a) whether it should have been stated in the ‘teaser’ tweets that they were marketing communications and (b) whether the hashtag “#spon” in the final ‘reveal’ tweet made it clear enough that that tweet was a marketing communication.”

More at: http://news.sky.com/home/showbiz-news/article/16157569

Gaming firm Electronic Arts (EA) has partnered with pop singer Katy Perry to develop and promote multiple games within its ‘The Sims’ franchise, featuring Perry-themed in-game content and virtual goods.

Katy Perry: stars in latest marketing activity for The Sims franchise

The partnership will feature Perry in all-new marketing activity for the brand, which will begin with a campaign supporting the launch of a collector’s editor for ‘The Sims 3 Showtime’.

EA is releasing the game on 9 March in the UK and will publicise it with a television campaign starring Perry.

More at: http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/rss/1112717/EA-gets-together-Katy-Perry-boost-Sims

Celebrity endorsements are set to be introduced to Google’s search results as part of a new advertising trial.

Christian Oestlien, Google’s head of social advertising, announced the trial at the SMX Conference in New York City and stated that celebrity endorsements will appear under paid search results during the testing process.

The new feature will work in conjunction with Adwords and will see products linked to famous faces. Currently the Kardashians and a few others have signed up.

A spokesman for the search engine said: “We’re always testing new ways to make advertising more compelling to our users and advertisers
“Some advertisers use celebrity endorsement in their ads. This test extends the option of celebrity endorsement to online campaigns.”

These endorsements will be shown in the sponsored ads at the top of Google+ pages in the US first. They will be rolled-out in the UK shortly afterwards.

More at: http://www.iabuk.net/en/1/googletointroducecelebendorsements210911.mxs