CARL Woods has had his wrist slapped after he illegally plugged a vaping firm online and broke a raft of strict rules.
The car dealing lover of Katie Price was paid to upload a video and stills of him plugging a vaping outfit on Instagram.
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But it is against the platform’s guidelines to promote e-cigarettes or vapes on Instagram, and so the tech giant took down the offending content and warned him his profile could be deleted if he broke the rules in the future.
Carl even said vapes were good for anxiety and “calmed down my nerves” as he shamelessly plugged the multi-coloured e-cigs.
The footage and stills were on his Instagram feed for several days before being removed.
The UK’s Advertising Standards Agency has banned the promotion of vapes on the internet, on TV and in newspapers and magazines.
And transgressors can be fined.
The Sun has contacted Carl’s reps for comment.
Guidelines say: “Ads for nicotine-containing e-cigarettes not licensed as medicines are prohibited on on-demand television, in newspapers and magazines, on the internet, in emails and in text messages.
“Marketers’ own websites may present factual information about products but may not be used to promote or advertise them. However, the guidance states that ads for nicotine-containing e-cigarettes not licensed as medicines are permitted on outdoor posters and on the sides of buses not travelling outside of the UK, on leaflets, in direct hard copy mail and in the cinema.
“All ads for vaping and e-cigarettes that appear in media that is permitted should still be socially responsible, not targeted at children and should not make unauthorised health and/or safety claims.”
And Instagram’s policy states: “Branded content that promotes goods such as vaping, tobacco products and weapons will not be allowed.
“Our advertising policies have long prohibited the advertisement of these products.”
The site said that people who breached the rules had the content taken down.
Carl has had an Instagram post banned before, after failing to note that they were advertisements to his fans.
At the time, the Advertising Standards Authority said that the posts by Carl breached their branding codes.
In the posts, Carl was seen wearing a T-shirt with Engage on it, with the brand saying it was done for free.
Having no agreement with the company, his representatives were asked if he would wear some of their brands t-shirts.
Engage said at the time that they were unaware of the requirement to label ads like this.
Carl’s representatives told the ASA and they hadn’t realised the posts would have to be labelled, so they hadn’t included the “Paid partnership” tag on the posts.
Louis Shaw of Geordie Shore fame was also banned from the platform at the end of last year, for posting ads for a vape.
The video shared by the star saw a hand with two boxes of e-cigarettes and the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ask the star to stop promoting nicotine-containing e-cigarettes on the platform.
The Instagram story on Louis’ account had the caption: “@RELXUK’ and ‘GET YOUR OWN – RELAX WITH 15% OFF – LOUISXMAS15.”
The ad also featured text saying, ‘This product contains nicotine, which is a highly addictive substance.’
The ASA said it therefore breached the Cap Code (Edition 12) 2.1, 2.3 and 22.12.
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