Brian O’Driscoll has been tackled by the consumer watchdog over a “misleading” social media post for which he failed to make sufficiently clear involved payment.
The former Irish rugby international appeared on the annual Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) consumer protection list over a post for a fitness company that appeared on Instagram last April.
Mr O’Driscoll, who currently has 370,000 Instagram followers, was found to have “engaged in a misleading commercial practice” after the CCPC inspected his account and homed in on a post connected with the Zerofit clothes range.
In a subsequent compliance notice, the pundit was directed to “ensure that in all instances where a trader has paid you to use editorial content in the media to promote a product or service you must make it clear that such promotion is a paid promotion”.
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He was also warned that his social media channels would be “the subject of further inspection to ensure adherence to this compliance direction”.
Mr O’Driscoll did not reply to a request for comment from The Irish Times.
Meanwhile, fitness coach Caroline O’Mahony, who has 822,000 followers on Instagram, was found to have “engaged in a misleading commercial practice”. This involved a “failure to use the appropriate labels” to disclose the commercial nature of the content published, which relates to Caroline O’Mahony Coaching.
The consumer protection list details the CCPC’s enforcement activities and includes traders from a wide range of sectors including supermarket chains, department stores, pubs, bars, restaurants and vehicle retailers.
For the first time the list also includes actions taken against influencers who failed to disclose the commercial nature of their social media posts.
Five traders were prosecuted in court, including Tesco and Homesavers. There were 23 compliance notices served on traders, including three on influencers and 47 fixed payment notices served on traders including Aldi, Brown Thomas, Currys, Dunnes Stores, Londis and Spar.
Fines were issued to traders for a range of issues including for misleading consumers by displaying incorrect sale prices.
The enforcement outcomes outlined in the list came from 205 consumer protection inspections in 2024, up from 183 in 2023. This included 164 in-store inspections, 41 online inspections and 21 vehicle trader inspections.
CCPC chairman Brian McHugh said: “Consumers need to be able to shop with confidence, knowing they are getting what they paid for. Our enforcement teams have been hard at work inspecting businesses ensuring they’re following the law.”
“Currently, the level of fines that can be issued for breaches of consumer protection law is not a deterrent for large businesses and that is why we are calling on the Government to give us the power to issue meaningful fines to companies breaking consumer law,” he said.
Allowing the CCPC to directly impose “meaningful fines” would send a “clear signal” to businesses that they must treat consumers fairly or face serious consequences, he added.
Last April, the CCPC wrote to 26 influencers in Ireland across a range of sectors and reminded them of their obligations under consumer protection law regarding labelling of content. The CCPC has several investigations ongoing in relation to influencers and further outcomes are expected this year.
“Influencer marketing on social media can significantly shape consumers’ opinions and purchasing behaviours so it’s important that when a consumer sees commercial content on social media, they can instantly recognise it for what it is,” said Mr McHugh.
“Our research shows that almost a quarter of consumers who purchased a product as a result of an influencer promoting it subsequently felt misled,” he added.
