The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2026
Falabella dropped two influencers and rewrote its policy over one wasabi video
When a viral video showed an influencer's dog fed wasabi, Chile's Falabella cut her deal, her podcast partner's, and began rewriting its influencer rules.
Falabella · 2026-07-28
What happened
Josefa Sáez was one of Chile's most followed young influencers, and one of Falabella's most visible partners — her Sybilla clothing collection for the retailer's own brand was counted among its most successful. In July 2026 a video went viral: her father offering the family's Italian mastiff a piece of salmon sashimi covered in wasabi, the dog salivating and licking its snout while he laughed and insisted it eat.
Days later the fallout doubled. On 'Así Tal Cual', a podcast Falabella sponsored by season, panelist Teresita Durruty recalled making her childhood dog eat cigarette butts to hide her smoking, to the panel's laughter. Falabella ended the commercial relationship with both women, saying the acts 'do not represent the values of our brand', and announced an exhaustive review of its sponsorship policy and influencer hiring criteria.
The bill was concrete: Sáez's Sybilla collection went to discounts of more than 50%, the podcast's hosts — who had quit their jobs for the show — deleted its entire archive from Spotify and YouTube, and Falabella began tightening background checks on every current sponsorship and drafting new clauses for future ones, taking the question to Chile's national advertisers' association.
Why it happened
- Falabella had bought warmth from a young audience through Sáez; the video proved a values clause covers not just what an influencer signs, but everything her household films
- The first statement tried to separate the brand from the video while keeping the deal; the internet read it as half-measures, and the full break came five days later
- By cutting the podcast in the same move, Falabella priced the precedent: one animal-cruelty clip anywhere in a partner's catalogue now voids the whole relationship
The lesson
An influencer deal rents a whole life, not a media slot. Falabella learned it when one old video and one podcast anecdote together voided two contracts, a clothing line and its own hiring rules.
Aftermath
Sáez said the video was old and her father's doing, made her account private after threats, and kept her law-firm internship under a cloud. Falabella moved faster than its statement: background checks on current sponsorships tightened within days, and new animal-welfare clauses were drafted for future contracts. In Chilean marketing columns the case became the year's argument for why values clauses need named scenarios, not general principles.
Sources
- EMOL: Tras polémico video: Falabella rompe vínculo con Josefa Sáez y revisa sus políticas con influencers
- The Clinic: Falabella pone fin a su relación con Josefa Sáez y el podcast 'Así Tal Cual' y revisa sus políticas con influencers
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