Molly-Mae Hague’s £8K Instagram giveaway breaks ASA rules

Molly-Mae Hague’s £8,000 Instagram giveaway has broke rules after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld 12 people’s complaints.

The advertising watchdog said the competition, held by the Love Island star, 21, in September 2020, wasn’t in line with the laws of chance or administered fairly.

Molly-Mae’s £8K Instagram giveaway, to celebrate 1million YouTube subscribers, included Louis Vuitton handbags and Apple products. She insisted that they had all be bought by her and not paid for or sponsored by others.  

The influencer told her 5.2million followers to like, subscribe and tag a friend to be in with a chance of winning.

After the giveaway, 12 people complained to the advertising watchdog as they believed not all of the participants had been included in the final draw. 

The ASA said that 100 people were selected at random with a winner determined from a computer programme, although they noted that there was no evidence to show that the initial chosen participants were random. 

The 12 people who complained also questioned whether the £8K giveaway was in line with the laws of chance or administered fairly. The Advertising Standards Authority upheld both complaints.

Molly-Mae said that she didn’t believe the giveaway to be a promotion as it did not provide an incentive to engage with one of the brands included in the competition.

The reality star added that the response to the giveaway had been ‘overwhelming and unexpected’.  

The ASA told SWNS in a statement: ‘We were concerned by the inconsistencies in the information provided, but in either case, we had not seen evidence to show that the shortlisted participants were chosen randomly.’

‘Although Ms Hague indicated that the eventual prize winner was selected randomly using computer software, we had not seen evidence to show that was the case either,’ they added. 

‘We had not seen evidence that the prize was awarded in accordance with the laws of chance and by an independent person or under the supervision of an independent person.’ 

While 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.’

MailOnline has contacted both ASA and Molly-Mae for further comment. 

It comes after Molly-Mae was forced to defend the method she used to select the winner of her £8,000 designer bag giveaway in September.

The Love Island star, 21, took to Instagram to reveal she and her management spent time deciding how to choose the lucky fan, and settled on putting 25 ‘random’ entries into a generator after over two million people took part in the competition.

As many social media users branded her technique ‘lazy’, the influencer claimed she couldn’t record all participants on the site without putting her account at risk and urged fans to ‘be happy’ for the champion, who goes by @joycenotjoy on the platform.

The reality TV star, who opened the competition to celebrate earning one million YouTube subscribers, went make-up free as she detailed her selection process.

Molly-Mae said: ‘Okay guys the moment is finally here, I’m just going to keep my phone up so you can see, it’s totally legit.

‘To pick the giveaway winner, we’ve come up with several ideas, but what we’ve done is pick 25 random people from the giveaway. We’re going to put 1-25 in the generator and whatever number is pulls out, that’s going to be the winner!’

Showing viewers her laptop, the media personality went on: ‘Let’s just do it then. I’m going to press the generator. Number 5 is @joycenotjoy you’ve just won my giveaway.

‘Thank you so much to everyone that has entered, please don’t be upset if you didn’t win. I love you all.’

Some fans took to Twitter to express their disappointment at losing the chance to scoop the massive haul of goods – including Louis Vuitton bags.

They wrote: ‘I mean I knew I was never going to win @mollymaehague giveaway. however only picking 25 people out of the millions that entered seems soooooooooo unfair. Or am I just being a scrounge?!

‘Is it just or me or was the Molly Mae giveaway kinda unfair? Cause she said to enter the giveaway do this and that which 2mil+ did but she only used the random generator on 25 ppl so only they had a chance of winning tbh.. I don’t think this was executed very well.

‘Imagine Running a competition that millions of people enter and you can only be bothered to pick up 25 names… well your management @mollymaehague #mollymaegiveaway #mollymae #lazybehaviour

‘Okay but how can Molly Mae get almost 3 million entries on her giveaway AND ONLY PICK OUT OF 25 PEOPLE??? How does she think that’s fair??

‘I don’t understand why Molly Mae only picked 25 random people out of over 2 mil?? I’m confused.

‘How do you get 2mil+ comments on the Molly mae giveaway but then only do the number generator on 25 people??? How is that fair? 

‘what a scam Molly Mae’s giveaway was. nearly 3 million entries and she only picks 25 people to put in the random name generator lmfao.

‘I wonder how @mollymaehague’s team randomly chose 25 people from the comments section of her giveaway photo considering there were over 1 million comments to go through #mollymaegiveaway.’ (sic)

Others said naysayers should be grateful as they insisted the ‘sweetheart’ has been one of the only celebrities that have created such an impressive giveaway.

They penned: ‘Why are people moaning about how Molly Mae picked the winner Rolling on the floor laughing Stop being so sore and be happy for the girl that won ffs 2 million people entered what did you expect.

‘Really baffles me how salty some people are about loosing @mollymaehague giveaway. 1. She did sth most celebs would never do and we should appreciate her for that 2. Be happy for someone else, it really isn’t that hard

‘Molly Mae is such a sweetheart idc I’m still keeping my follow.’ (sic) 

The TV star stood by her further as she added in a separate post following the backlash: ‘For people saying that 25 names in a generator isn’t fair… we literally spent all well brainstorming the best way to pick. 

‘There was no software or app that would allow me to put in two million IG comments without logging in with my insta password which I would never ever do. 

‘why am I scrolling through the all the tweets about molly mae and seeing people mad that she only picked from 25 people … like she still picked those 25 from the 2 million it’s literally not unfair lol ?

‘Let’s just all be happy for the winner please. It’s only a light hearted giveaway. The 25 names had all entered more than one… including the winner. Let’s be happy for her! She deserves it.’ (sic)