Katie Price rapped by Advertising Standards Authority for irresponsible diet post for The Skinny Food Co

Former glamour model and TV personality Katie Price was forced to remove a social media post after claims that it irresponsibly promoted a diet that fell below 800 calories a day, and was not obviously recognisable as an ad.

The Instagram Reel, originally posted on 20 August 2023, was an ad for The Skinny Food Co where Katie detailed what she ate in a day including a number of the brand's products.

During the video, the reality star could be heard in a voice over, making multiple references to previous weight loss attempts, stating “God look at that double chin, here’s why I’m in the Skinny Foods.”

In the caption she wrote: “Another example of how you can eat so many delicious meals and snacks in the day. All of this was only 755 calories and helping me stay in a calorie deficit to shift some extra pounds when needed. If I have a bad day I like to go in a calorie deficit to ensure it’s not a bad week!”

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said that they received two complaints after the post, challenging whether it was obvious enough that the post was an advert and whether or not the ad was promoting irresponsible dieting.

The Skinny Food Co denied these claims, saying that the reel included “#ad” in the caption, which they considered was sufficient to ensure that it was visible and clear that the reel was a paid promotion, and that they can’t control what Katie eats in a day.

The ASA however were unhappy with this justification, with their ruling stating: “We acknowledged that the reel featured the hashtag “#ad” in the caption. However, the identifier was placed at the end of the caption and was not visible without engaging with the post and expanding the text. We therefore concluded that the label was insufficiently prominent to obviously identify the ad as a marketing communication from the outset.”

One of the main issues with the post was the severe lack of calories consumed, promoting an irresponsible diet of below 800 calories a day to followers without a recommendation to seek medical advice first.

The ASA ruling added: “We therefore considered that consumers would understand from the ad that they could elect to follow a similar diet that fell below 800 kcal a day by consuming the same products, and other products from The Skinny Food Co’s range, without taking medical advice, until they achieved their desired weight.”

The ad has been banned from appearing again in this way, and Not Guilty Food Co Ltd, The Skinny Food Co, and Katie Price have all been urged to ensure that their future ads are obviously identifiable as marketing communications.