Myleene Klass has had an Instagram reel banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for failing to ensure that the post was ‘obviously identifiable’ as a marketing communication.
The ad for the British TV presenter’s book ‘They don’t teach this at school’, saw Klass ask various celebrities what they wished they had learnt at school, with various stars holding a copy of the book.
A complainant challenged whether the post was clearly marked as an paid advertisement.
The ex-Hear’Say singer’s representatives said there was some confusion as to what was and was not an ad but that Klass had added ‘ad’ to all her posts moving forward and would continue to do so.
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ASA CAP (Committee of Advertising Practice) Code states that marketing communications must make their commercial intent clear if it is not obvious from the context.
The advertising watchdog believed that because the Klass post intended to promote her book and was therefore directly connected to the supply of goods provided by her, that the Instagram reel was in fact a promotional campaign.
“At the end of the video Ms Klass was shown holding a copy of the book up to the camera, with the on-screen text ‘Wish Granted’,” the ad authority said.
“We considered it was only at that point that it would have been clear to viewers that her book was the subject of the video and the reason for the initial question. For those reasons we considered it was not immediately clear to viewers that the post was a marketing communication.”
While the ASA welcomed the star’s assurance that she would be adding ‘#ad’ to her posts in the future, the authority nevertheless told Klass to remove the advertisement in the form complained about.



