Antitrust orders Ferragni pay 1.2mn for Easter egg case

(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 5 - The Italian Antitrust Authority said Friday that it has ordered two companies linked to businesswoman and fashion influencer Chiara Ferragni to pay at least 1.2 million euros over a three-year period to children's charity 'I Bambini delle Fate' after concluding a probe into misleading advertising of a Easter egg produced by Dolci Preziosi that she endorsed.
    The case is one of three regarding allegedly bogus charity product endorsements by the 37-year-old.
    The two companies headed by Ferragni said in a statement that they have decided to clearly separate their commercial and charitable activities.
    The other cases regard a 'designer' version of the popular Italian Christmas cake 'pandoro' and a Barbie-like doll modelled on her.
    Last year the the competition watchdog issued fines of over one million euro to companies linked to Ferragni and 420,000 euro to Italian confectionery company Balocco for unfair commercial practice in relation to sales of the pandoro.
    The Antitrust authority said the companies had led customers to understand that by purchasing a Ferragni 'designer' edition they would have contributed to a donation to the Regina Margherita pediatric hospital in Turin.
    However, the donation of 50,000 euro had instead already been made by Balocco on its own months earlier and the companies linked to Ferragni allegedly made more than one million euro from the initiative. (ANSA).