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

@McDonalds
McDonald’s

Meet some of the hard-working people dedicated to providing McDs with quality food every day #McDStories http://t.co/BoNIwRJS

January 18, 2012 8:30 pm via web Reply Retweet Favorite

From there, the #McDStories hashtag was born, but probably not in the way McDonald’s was hoping. Negative tweets about the fast food giant began to proliferate, prompting the New York Observer to remark that “some stories are better left untold.” Tweets ranged from tweeting about being high while eating McDonald’s to throwing up the food.

While the hashtag grew steam, McDonald’s also had a back and forth with PETA on Twitter, in which McDonald’s tried to correct some of PETA’s allegations about using mechanically separated white meat.

More at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/23/mcdstories-twitter-hashtag_n_1223678.html

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