Another influencer has fallen foul of the CAP Code when running a prize draw on Instagram. 

It's a good example of the technical problems that can arise when running promotions on social media – and a reminder that you really need to understand what the platform can and can't do before you launch.

So what happened?

Meggan Kirkland – a popular fitness and lifestyle influencer – ran a Christmas prize draw on her Instagram account.  The promotion post said: "And for the fifth year running, we're officially back with our huge Christmas GIVEAWAY!! [...] "like this post + tag a friend in the comments", "subscribe to my YouTube channel...", "make sure you're following my insta @meggangrubb" and "share this post to your story for a bonus entry!"

One complainant challenged if the promotion breached the CAP Code because:

• the terms and conditions were not accessible to participants; and
• they believed it was not administered fairly because it was not possible to track who had shared the post as an Instagram Story, and who would therefore qualify for a bonus entry.

The ASA upheld both complaints.

The missing terms and conditions

The ASA noted that the post contained the following conditions: "Giveaway is open worldwide + ends 1st December 2024 at midnight". However, it didn't contain or provide any information on where to find additional conditions, such as any restriction on the number of entries, specifically how and when winners would be notified and any intention to use winners in publicity. When the promotion was posted, the terms were not displayed or otherwise signposted. 

The ASA considered that any condition which affected entry, and the results of the promotion, would be relevant to entrants when deciding to take part in the promotion and should be clearly made available. Therefore, because the terms and conditions were not clear before, or at the time, of entry and were not easily accessible throughout the promotion, the ad breached the CAP Code.

So far so obvious, you might say. The more interesting point concerned the bonus entries...

The missing bonus entries

The ASA understood that the promotion allowed entrants to qualify for a bonus entry by sharing the promotional post as an Instagram Story. It acknowledged that sharing the post to Instagram Stories was outlined as a bonus entry rather than a mandatory requirement and understood that Kirkland checked the bonus entries when they appeared in her DM requests. 

However, Kirkland's representative confirmed that for entrants with private Instagram accounts, story shares could not be directly verified due to platform restrictions. So, the ASA concluded that it would not be possible to identify whether entrants with private Instagram accounts had qualified for a bonus entry.

The ASA noted that Kirkland had used Instagram's tools to review and verify the requirements that could be checked. However, data from the post would not show who had shared the post as an Instagram Story from a private account and so those entrants wouldn't get the bonus entry. As a result, the ASA concluded that the promotion was not administered fairly and breached the CAP Code.

Know your limits – and the limits of the platform

There are numerous influencer-run social media promotions that have resulted in an upheld ruling from the ASA. 

Often it is because the promoter is overwhelmed by the response and doesn't have the time or resources to administer the avalanche of entries properly. Indeed, we've seen prize draws where the promoter has simply culled most of the entries and then run the draw with a more manageable number. We've also seen promoters fail to use a proper winner selection process – one selected a winner by scrolling quickly through the list of entrants on their phone and stopping it randomly on someone's name. 

In the present case, the problem was that the promoter just couldn't see certain activities from private accounts, so they were unable to verify compliance with their own entry requirements. Unfortunately, as is often the case, this is something that is too late to fix once the promotion has started. 

And if there's a complaint, the ASA will find it easy to conclude that a promotion has not been administered properly if the promoter cannot demonstrate a robust selection and verification process. It's a very low threshold – the CAP Code requires promoters to conduct promotions equitably, promptly and efficiently, to deal fairly and honourably with participants, and to avoid causing unnecessary disappointment.

So, before launching a prize draw on social media and asking entrants to follow, like, comment, tag, share, etc, promoters should stop and ask themselves whether they can actually verify all of these steps on the platform they are using – because they are all different and something that works on one platform may not work the same way on another. 

Or perhaps an even better question is to ask whether they want the hassle of verifying any of this at all – maybe a follow and a like or comment would do. In many cases, less may not be more, but it may be enough!