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.
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