Alan Sugar bitten by watchdog after teeth whitening advert ‘misled’ fans when he shared promotion for £150 kit without making clear he is the co-owner of the firm behind the product
- A social media post has come back on Lord Sugar with big repercussions
- Before Christmas 2019 he promoted a tooth-whitening kit to his online followers
- Yet he failed to note he is the co-owner of the company, with an Apprentice star
- Lord Sugar and Stylsmile denied there was any attempt to cover up his link
Lord Sugar has been censured for misleading millions of Twitter followers with a promotion for a teeth whitening kit.
The tycoon promoted a product launched by a winner from his BBC show The Apprentice without declaring it was an advertisement.
It came despite repeated warnings to high-profile figures from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) about the need to be honest when pushing their commercial interests on social media.
The row was triggered after Lord Sugar posted a tweet suggesting followers buy the Stylsmile teeth whiteening toothbrush kit, which costs £149.99, as a Christmas present.
Lord Sugar has been censured for misleading millions of Twitter followers with a promotion for a teeth whitening kit, which he owns with Apprentice Winner Tom Pellereau (right)
What the 73-year-old did not make clear is that he is a co-owner of the company that makes the product, along with Tom Pellereau – who won The Apprentice in 2011.
The ASA said: ‘A tweet from Lord Alan Sugar, seen on December 9, 2019, stated: “If you know someone who’s longing for whiter teeth, this is the perfect Xmas gift for them”.
‘It included a link to the Stylsmile website and there was also an embedded tweet from the brand itself promoting the Stylsmile teeth whitening kit.’
The ASA said: ‘We considered that although Lord Sugar was a wellknown investor, it was not immediately clear to all consumers that he had a commercial interest in Styls – mile UK from the tweet itself.
What the 73-year-old did not make clear is that he is a co-owner of the Stylsmile company
‘We therefore concluded that the commercial intent behind the tweet was not made clear up front and it was not obviously identifiable as a marketing communication.’
The watchdog banned the ad and Stylsmile UK and Lord Sugar to ‘ensure that they made clear the commercial intent of their posts in future, for example by including a clear and prominent identifier on their social media posts such as #ad.’
Lord Sugar and Stylsmile denied there was any attempt to cover up his link to the company.
They said the fact he was an investor in the business was well known because it had been declared on his TV show. They added that the tweet was not a covert promotion.