An £8,000 giveaway run by reality TV personality Molly-Mae Hague broke promotion rules, a watchdog has said.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the prize draw, which marked Hague reaching a million YouTube subscribers, was not administered fairly in accordance with the laws of chance.
Hague, who appeared on Love Island in 2019, ran the giveaway in September 2020 with followers offered the chance of winning luxury goods, including handbags and a laptop, if they liked, subscribed and tagged a friend on her social media channels.
She shared a photo of herself behind a pile of prizes including Louis Vuitton luggage and a year’s supply of her Filter By Molly Mae fake tan product, and said the prizes had been purchased by her and were not part of a paid partnership.
A group of 100 participants were chosen at random out of a hat, from which a winner was chosen by a computer programme, the ASA said.
But the watchdog said it had not seen evidence to show the initial selection was random.
Twelve people complained, saying they believed not all entrants had been included in the “final draw” and so did not have an equal chance of winning.
They challenged whether the prize was awarded in accordance with the laws of chance and whether the promotion was administered fairly.
The ASA upheld the complaints on both issues.
Hague said the post did not provide an incentive to engage with a brand or a product so she had believed it was not a promotion and did not fall within the rules.
She also said the response to the promotion had been overwhelming and unexpected and she had dealt with it in the best way possible, given the number of entrants.
The ASA ruling said: “We told Molly-Mae Hague to ensure their future promotions were administered fairly and that prizes were awarded to genuine winners in accordance with the laws of chance and by an independent person or under the supervision of an independent person.”