Mary Berry’s fury at cannabis oil adverts that use her face to sell supplements
- The former Bake Off judge only became aware of the Facebook adverts last year
- The photoshopped pictures appeared to show Berry holding CBD oil bottles
- Facebook pulled the adverts down after Mary Berry complained to them
Mary Berry said she was ‘shattered’ to learn her face was being used in unauthorised adverts to sell cannabis oil and face cream.
The former Bake Off judge was appalled to learn that her name and image was being used to promote products without her knowledge.
In an interview with the BBC’s Watchdog, shown on The One Show tonight, Miss Berry, 85, said she first became aware of the adverts on Facebook last year.
‘We began to get emails, “There’s a cream and you recommend it. If you say it’s good, we thought it was worth spending the money,”’ she said.
Mary Berry (pictured on ITV’s Lorraine, January 9, 2020) said she was ‘shattered’ to learn her face was being used in unauthorised adverts to sell cannabis oil and face cream
‘I was just absolutely shattered people could be conned.’
The adverts showed Miss Berry, who presents Best Home Cook, endorsing cannabidiol (CBD) products, which contain parts of the cannabis plant that are legal in the UK.
It showed a photoshopped picture of Miss Berry appearing to hold CBD oil bottles in her right hand.
‘It’s nothing to do with me, I’m not interested in that sort of thing,’ she said.
The adverts claimed the product could relieve chronic pain and Miss Berry had a theory as to why her image was used to sell the products.
The adverts showed Miss Berry, who presents Best Home Cook, endorsing cannabidiol (CBD) products, which contain parts of the cannabis plant that are legal in the UK (stock image)
She said: ‘I’ve had Polio when I was a child and because I’ve got a bit of a wonky hand, they think it’s arthritis and perhaps this is the cure for arthritis.’
Miss Berry complained to Facebook after finding out about the fake adverts and the social media site pulled them.
The mother-of-three said she was inundated with emails.
‘I get more emails than I can read because I start to read them and then I begin to get upset and I think I just can’t read anymore,’ she said.
Miss Berry said that despite having no knowledge of the adverts she felt a share of the responsibility for what had happened to so many people.
‘I would like the social medium platforms that all these claims are on, they should be vetted before they go on and checked out.’
According to Watchdog, Bionic Bliss has said it has now stopped trading and insists that it wasn’t responsible for adverts featuring Mary or any other celebrity.
It has blamed third party marketing companies and insists all its prices were clearly displayed on its website.
The full interview can be seen on Watchdog on The One Show on BBC One tonight (WED) from 7pm.