Difficulties are piling up for the influencer Chiara Ferragni

Today, Chiara Ferragni and Alessandra Balocco (President and CEO of the company that produces Pandoro Balocco) are under investigation for aggravated fraud in the Milan prosecutor's investigation into the 'Pink Christmas' Pandoro case produced by the Piedmontese company Balocco.

The suspected crime, which has yet to be formally charged, could change from commercial fraud to fraud. Both women will soon be questioned by Deputy Prosecutor Eugenio Fusco. Meanwhile, Ferragni's two companies, Fenice and The Blond Salad TBS Crew, have been fined just over one million euros by the Antitrust Authority, and Balocco has been fined 420’000 euros.

The influencer wasted no time responding on January 8 with a statement: "I am calm because I have always acted in good faith, and I am sure that this will be evident in the ongoing investigations," adding, "I am, however, deeply troubled by the manipulation being carried out by some media outlets, including the dissemination of objectively false information."

Since mid-December, accusations related to charitable activities have been piling up. It's no coincidence that on January 8, Ferragni addressed rumors regarding the charitable campaign for the Trudi doll launched in 2019, a limited edition available for only 48 hours, where a portion of the sales proceeds were dedicated to fight against school bullying. In this case, TBS Crew, a company controlled by Ferragni, clarified that the proceeds from e-commerce sales were donated to Stomp Out Bullying, a non-profit organization against harassment, cyberbullying, homophobia and all discrimination.

To summarize recent events: In the Chiara Ferragni Pandoro case, the antitrust sanction was imposed because the product's advertising led consumers to believe that a portion of the profits from the sale of the famous Balocco Pandoro, created for Christmas 2022, would be donated to a charity at the Regina Margherita Hospital in Turin. In reality, an agreed-upon sum had already been donated by Balocco to the Turin hospital, but it was in May 2022 and amounted to only 50’000 euros, without taking into account the advertised Pandoro's sales revenue, which cost 9 euros instead of the 3.7 euros charged for the standard Pandoro. Companies run by Chiara Ferragni would have made one million euros through this commercial operation.

The same strategy appears to have been used for Chiara Ferragni's Easter eggs, also considered an example of misleading advertising.

A year ago, in 2022, columnist and writer Selvaggia Lucarelli was one of the first to notice the lack of clarity in the Balocco Pandoro charity project. A few days after the Balocco scandal, precisely on December 18, the influencer posted a video on Instagram with apologies, looking exhausted, her hair tied up, and publicly apologizing for her mistakes.

However, the reactions from her followers were swift, with over 18’000 highly critical comments. Meanwhile, the Safilo Group terminated its licensing agreement with Ferragni, and Coca-Cola suspended an advertising campaign featuring the influencer, which was scheduled to air on television at the end of January during Italy's famous Sanremo music festival.

Ferragni remained silent for a while, and only in recent days have her first Instagram stories reappeared, mainly showing her children Leo and Vittoria. This is not a coincidence since, according to journalist Federico Mello, author of the essay 'Essere Chiara Ferragni,' posts with her children receive about twice as many likes as those featuring the influencer alone.

In the meantime, her number of followers has dropped from 30 million to 29.5 million, which is relatively minor, but her reputation is now what matters most. In the world of social media, it only takes a little to lose it, and it takes years to rebuild it.

This issue has not gone unnoticed in Italy, even by the government, to the point that it is working on the 'Ferragni Law' to bring order to the charity landscape, from the requirement to declare fees to sponsorships.