"I Lost 3kg After Eating This"... Influencer's Review Was Fake

Influencers who made false and exaggerated advertisements about food, cosmetics, and other products on social networking services (SNS) including Instagram have been caught in large numbers. They emphasized diet effects by comparing before-and-after photos of food consumption, but it was revealed that the products were actually unrelated to body fat reduction.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) announced on the 20th the results of a special crackdown on false and exaggerated advertisements of certain diet foods, cosmetics, and others since last month. According to the MFDS, a total of 232 false and exaggerated advertisement posts were detected across 54 SNS influencer accounts on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

The detected exaggerated advertisement cases were diverse. There were 67 posts claiming therapeutic effects for diseases such as "helps prevent various adult diseases," "changes body type to one that does not gain weight," "solves constipation," and "best for insomnia."

False and exaggerated advertisements posted by some social media (SNS) influencers [Image source=MFDS]

원본보기 아이콘

Additionally, 64 advertisements misled consumers by making general products unrelated to specific functions appear to help with "diet," "immunity," "hair loss prevention," and so on.

There were 25 false and exaggerated advertisements such as "enzymes that solve digestive discomfort" and "tea that removes swelling," and 16 advertisements deceiving consumers in the form of testimonials.

Posts that caused general cosmetics to be mistaken for pharmaceuticals were also detected. These included advertisements that went beyond the scope of cosmetics by using expressions related to Botox and filler procedures such as "the forehead becomes plump," as well as advertisements that could be mistaken for pharmaceuticals like "acne scars disappeared" and "even cares for skin regeneration."

Cases of false and exaggerated advertising. [Image source=MFDS]

원본보기 아이콘

The MFDS has requested the rapid blocking and deletion of posts on the detected accounts and has referred the cases for administrative action and investigation. The MFDS emphasized, "Since various information can be freely obtained on SNS, people can be easily exposed to unfair advertisements," and added, "Special caution is needed to avoid being misled."

It also added, "We will do our best to eradicate illegal online advertisements by strengthening monitoring such as online advertisement inspections targeting SNS, which has become a new form of advertising."

© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.