Klarna rapped by watchdog for Instagram campaign

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Dec 24, 2020

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) giant Klarna has seen an influencer campaign that it ran in the UK being banned by the advertising watchdog for its “irresponsible” targeting of consumers during lockdown.

Four now-removed influencer posts this spring were found by the Advertising Standards Authority to suggest that taking on credit liabilities via Klarna’s BNPL service would make consumers feel happier.

The influencers were Bradley Harper, Claire Menary, Aisha Master and Yasmin Fatollahy.

The complaint was originally made by Labour MP Stella Creasy and came as concerns mounted over the debt consumers could be building up by using BNPL.

As well as preventing Klarna from running the campaign again, the ASA also told the influencers they shouldn’t encourage consumers to use deferred payments as a mood booster.

Klarna had argued that the campaign was a real attempt to tap into consumers’ moods during the height of the pandemic earlier this year and said it was disappointed by the ruling, but admitted that it “missed the mark”.

The Swedish company has seen strong growth in recent periods and now has 90 million customers globally using its offer. It handles BNPL payments for some of fashion’s biggest names and is planning a stock market listing in New York at some point.