Justice sanctions illegal advertisements where stars promote wines or cocktails
Three alcohol brands were fined in March for using celebrities – Lady Gagafrom the rapper SCHthe influencer Anna Rvr – to promote their products via the Internet, the association welcomed Tuesday Addictions Franceat the origin of the procedures.
These convictions, handed down by the Paris Criminal Court for illegal advertising, are an additional episode in the long-term battle waged by Addictions France to enforce online the Evin law, which strictly regulates alcohol advertisements. These should in theory be limited to informative content, without any association with celebration, conviviality or humor.
In a first case, Moët Hennessy Diageo (LVMH group, owner of Echos-Le Parisien) was fined 15,000 euros for an advertisement published on the website of a daily newspaper and celebrating cooperation between the American star Lady Gaga and the Dom Pérignon champagne house, the association said. Asked by AFP, LVMH was not immediately able to comment.
In a second case, the Féfé brand which markets cans of cocktails was fined 13,000 euros, Addictions France reported. Féfé notably used photos of the Marseille rapper SCH on its website and its Instagram account, presented as “co-creator” of one of the brand’s recipes.
Glamor, escape, sensuality…
In a third case, Addictions France obtained the conviction of wine producer Gérard Bertrand a 20,000 euro suspended fine, and the young influencer Anna Rvr (492,000 subscribers on Instagram) a 3,000 euro suspended fine, for the rosé wine promotion.
Numerous advertisements evoking Anna Rvr were published on social networks and on the website of the alcohol producer, which multiplied the violations of the Evin law: mixing glamour, hedonism, escapism, or even packaging and names using the lexicon sensuality,” emphasized Addictions France in a press release. Féfé, Gérard Bertrand, and Anna Rvr could not be reached by AFP on Tuesday afternoon.
Instagram (Meta group) had already been forced in February 2023 by the French courts to remove content from influencers making “illicit advertising” of alcoholic beverages. The judgment concerned 37 publications, broadcast by around twenty different influencers representing together more than 5 million subscribers.
