We heard they made them look like total tits by allegedly catching them out flouting UK rules about promoting freebies on Twitter, and now Channel 4 is to ignore legal threats from ITV and broadcast the Dispatches episode that apparently shows some of Coronation Street's most familiar girls in a less than flattering light.
The investigative series set the girls up as part of a larger investigation into Advertising Standards Authority guidelines, with the aim of proving that the girls were breaking rules which state that they must highlight the fact that they're been given the products in return for promoting them online. The Sun claimed that the girls (including Brooke Vincent, Catherine Tyldesley, Georgia May Foote and Shobna Gulati) had fallen hook line and sinker for the fake products they were offered, and said some of the ladies in question proceeded to tell the world all about them on the oul social media.
If only they had known that their Mistique spray (billed as an anti-ageing skin toner made using water from a mountain well in Bali) was actually a bottle of tap water, and that energising bracelet (supposedly crafted and blessed by monks) was just a cheap piece of costume jewellery. Did we mention the fact that the fake company was called Puttana Aziendale? That's Italian for coroporate whore. Oh dear.
Anyway, ITV hit back saying that the documentary was totally defamatory, and threatened to sue their rival broadcaster if it ever went to air. Channel 4 stayed quiet at the time, but has now come out in support of the episode, and even given it an air date. "We stand by our journalism and the evidence we have collected. We intend to broadcast on 5th August" a spokeswoman said.
As per The Radio Times, Celebs, Brands and Fake Fans airs from 8pm on the Monday evening, conveniently slotted in between the Coronation Street double bill.
"In this one-hour special Channel 4 Dispatches goes undercover to investigate what's real and what's fake in the brave new world of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter," the official blurb reads. "Celebrities have considerable influence on social media. But are some less than transparent when tweeting brand names with their legions of fans? Dispatches exposes the new tricks used by marketeers to plug brands, from buying fake Facebook 'likes' and YouTube 'views' to influencing social media conversations."
We'll certainly be tuning in for that one.
