Rita Ora Faces Backlash After Latest Instagram Post Promoting Alcohol

Singer Rita Ora is facing backlash after one of her latest Instagram posts promoted an alcohol brand.

According to the Daily Mail, Ora reportedly posted a promotional post for Prospero tequila, boasting that it “highlights strong independent women.”

Per a scan of her Instagram account, it appears as if Ora has since deleted the controversial post, which experts say falls in line with a trend of celebrities with underage fanbases promoting alcohol brands.

“The thing that alarms me is that Rita Ora has an audience of 14+,” said Amy Powell, who is a client relationships manager at marketing compliance consultancy PromoVeritas.

“And her image has a bottle of Tequila right there on her Instagram,” Powell added. “Like I said to brands four years ago, regulators are ready and prepared to go to court in cases like this.”

Sober Girl Society founder Millie Gooch also commented on the situation, saying, “We need to be really mindful of any kind of alcoholic advertising that is occurring on Instagram.”

“Regularly on my feed I’ll see alcohol ads and sponsorship deals for vodka drinks and cocktails when I’ve not even searched for them,” she continued. “There’s so much alcohol-fuelled marketing aimed at young women and teenagers.”

Gooch has been clean and sober for over one year now, and went on to say, “We’re taught that to be strong, sassy, independent women we need to be that Sex and the City character with a cosmo in our hands.”

“For me, drinking didn’t make me stronger or more independent – booze doesn’t empower women it disempowers women,” she also said. “It’s disheartening to see influencers with such young followings promote alcohol in this way.

“Girls as young as eight are now on Instagram and they’ll probably be following celebrities like Rita Ora,” Gooch also claimed.

Additionally, Dr Richard Piper — the Chief Executive of Alcohol Change for the UK — added, “Much of the alcohol industry’s marketing budget is devoted to endorsements like these, which can often go unregulated.”

“This is because alcohol marketing in the fast-evolving world of social media presents new challenges which the current system isn’t able to cope with,” he continued. “That’s why we need a full review of alcohol marketing regulation to make it fit for the digital age.”

At this time, Ora does not appear to have commented on the controversy.