The Advertising Standards Authority has announced that it is to investigate Conservative party chairman Grant Shapps over his ‘get rich quick’ business alter ego Michael Green.
Shapps is alleged to have ‘misleadingly implied’ that Green was in fact a real person whilst plying his extra-curricular role as founder of HowToCorp - an internet marketing firm flogging business guides, software and SEO scripts.
The Plashing Vole, a blogger, was highly suspicious of rave reviews of the firms output posted on its website, which the author said ‘might be just as fictional as Grant's alter egos.’
The ASA has said it will be asking the firm to provide evidence to back up its testimonials.
Previous revelations have found that one of HowToCorp’s products infringed Google’s code of conduct by stealing content from other websites. Shapps transferred his share in the company to his wife in 2008.
A spokesperson for Shapps said: “"Mr Shapps hasn't been involved with this company for four and a half years. These websites are no longer online and any blogger can make a spurious complaint about any website, which then has to be investigated. This is in the hands of the ASA."