– Quite “far away” – VG

Influencer Sofie Karlstad was inducted into the Influencers Marketing Technical Committee (Fim) last week after a light ad campaign for beta-carotene.

On Instagram, she poses in a bikini on a beach, with a box of supplements. This was the second time that Karlstad was assassinated in Fim. VG discussed the case on Monday.

The professional committee believed that Karlstad’s advertising campaigns create body pressure and that special attention should be paid when you have a large young following. In total, Karlstad has 235,000 followers on Instagram.

On Monday, the influencer took to Instagram, where she took on Fim and VG.

In his Instagram post, Karlstad uses another influencer as an example of people who also show bodies on Instagram, but are not caught on Fim. Karlstad believes that it is mainly girls with “one body type” who die in Fim.

Point out the profile of influencer Camilla Lorentzen on Instagram. Lorentzen also posts photos dressed in light clothing where she promotes products.

– I totally disagree that Fim is a system that works when only one body type has been taken up to now. From my point of view, it is “body shaming” of a special body that is believed to create body pressure. If I had posted the photo that Camilla posted in a bikini from behind, like an ad for a bracelet, I think she would have complained more and Fim would have dropped her more easily, Karlstad tells VG.

See Camilla Lorentzen’s post Karlstad is referring to here:

Lorentzen says that she understands what Karlstad means and that she agrees with the influencer on several points. However, he believes that there are significant differences in what the two markets, and also in what Fim looks at.

– It also seems important to me to point out that the FIM is not a body set up to handle complaints about advertising in general, but to review the advertising of certain goods and services aimed at children and young people under 24 years of age. If I had advertised supplements, energy drinks, protein powders or the like in the ad you are referring to here, I would definitely have been out of the way, Lorentzen explains and adds:

– But here’s an ad in collaboration with mental health and blush.no with a focus on retouching and diversity in the ad industry that’s on the agenda. Drawing a parallel between that and beta carotene hype is a long way off.

At the same time, he says it is up to Karlstad to choose which profiles he will be compared to when it comes to this.

– But it could be an idea to choose an influencer who announces the same things, because that is where the bases of the comparison should be laid, and not just opt ​​for an influencer who has a body that “does not fit within the ideal”, he says .

Lorentzen says that he consistently refuses all cooperation with players who offer the products that are on Fim’s list of regulated products.

– Precisely because I do not want to contribute to the increase in physical dissatisfaction in children and young people.

Both times Karlstad was killed in Fim, it was due to the marketing of dietary supplements in a way that Fim believed contributed to body pressure.

– I believe that all types of bodies are bodies worthy of use, also in advertising. For Camilla and me, for example, the body reappears in many different posts. Therefore, I consider it normal that we also behave in the same way in our advertising posts, says Karlstad to VG.

This was the position Karlstad was sent to on Thursday of last week:

Lorentzen can support certain aspects of Karlstad’s argument. For example, he believes that Fim has a way to go when it comes to making decisions in cases against various types of profiles.

– It is striking, for example, that not a single decision has been made against a male influencer, although there are several of these who play a lot with the body, target young people and market dietary supplements, and that girls condemned in the cases yes surprisingly similar profiles. By that I don’t mean that none of the decisions that have been made are wrong; I’ve read most of them and I agree relatively, but that Fim should expand and lower even further, he says.

– I think, for example, that they have a long way to go to live up to their own guideline that “influencers [ikke skal] contribute to spreading incorrect or undocumented complaints about the body and health. The information that protein powder is thinner, collagen gives you better hair, and that water has alkaline properties is spread over a low shoe.

The head of the Fim Secretariat, Wenche Jacobsen, says that they only follow up on complaints that come in from abroad.

– The Norwegian Food Safety Authority is responsible for product claims that can be used in the marketing of dietary supplements. Fim does not examine the basis of product claims, but emphasizes in the claim “influencers must not contribute to spreading incorrect or undocumented claims about the body and health” that influencers must bring this to light with the advertiser they want to make influencer marketing.

Lorentzen himself believes that the real fight against body pressure is aimed at those who decide what type of body to use when marketing their products.

– Do you think you contribute to body pressure?

– I think it is difficult to define what contributes to body pressure and what does not, because there is a subjective and universal factor in this. Someone who wants a body like mine may feel that I contribute to body pressure, while someone who is actively interested in writing about Yodel that I am unhealthy, overweight and ugly will by no means have the same opinion, he replies.

– If we look at the most universal, I believe that it is the greatest market forces and not least the attitudes in society that create the infamous body pressure, and that this is where the battle must also be. I believe, for example, that it is more important to referee those who decide to use a body type in their marketing than to crack down on the models and influences that are part of marketing.

Both Karlstad and Lorentzen say they should normalize the body’s view.

– My goal is to inspire and motivate girls and women to dare to go their own way, to dare to put themselves first and above all to dare to do whatever it takes to make them feel great in their bodies, regardless how it looks, Lorentzen concludes.