Chiara Ferragni in turmoil. On Wednesday, the Italian competition policeman indicated that he had opened an investigation for “unfair commercial practice” against two companies of the queen of Italian influencers. These two companies, Fenice and TBS Crew, allegedly resorted to dubious practices within the framework of the commercial initiative “Chiara Ferragni and Balocco together for the Regina Margherita Hospital in Turin”, promoted between November and December 2022.
During this campaign, the confectionery company Balocco had put on sale pink Christmas cakes signed Ferragni in limited edition. The money raised was to help research on osteosarcoma and Ewing’s sarcoma in favor of the Turin hospital. “The consumer could be misled into believing that by buying” these cakes, “he was contributing to a donation for the purchase of new equipment” for the hospital, argues the competition authority in a press release .
However, according to the first elements of the investigation, “Balocco had planned a fixed amount to be donated to the hospital several months before” the launch of the commercial campaign “and therefore completely independent of the evolution of sales of the product,” she says.
Searches of group premises
The premises of Fenice and TBS Crew were raided on Wednesday by the Competition Authority and the special antitrust unit of the Italian financial police. In mid-June, the competition policeman had already opened an investigation for the same reasons against Balocco, an Italian company specializing in the production of desserts.
Instagram star followed by 29.4 million people, Chiara Ferragni, 36, made a name for herself in 2009 with her fashion blog entitled “The Blonde Salad”. She then launched her own shoe collection in 2015, before collaborating with several fashion brands, including Dior and Chanel, and becoming an entrepreneur with, in addition to her blog, commercial activities including an online store. The Italian luxury fashion group Tod’s had brought the influencer into its board of directors in April 2021, an announcement which had been enthusiastically received by the Milan Stock Exchange.