Despite legal threats from ITV, Channel 4 will go ahead and air its undercover sting that reportedly shows Coronation Street actresses promoting products on Twitter that, unbeknownst to the performers involved, were fakes set up by Dispatches to expose marketing rules being breached.

Brooke Vincent
Brooke Vincent: Stung By Channel 4's Dispatches.

Celebs, Brands and Fake Fans, the hour long Dispatches programme features actors including Brooke Vincent and Catherine Tyldesley who are secretly filmed receiving beauty products from a bogus “new” cosmetics firm; some of which were later tweeted about. The documentary makers set up a fake cosmetics brand “Puttana Aziendale” which means – we kid you not – “corporate whore.”

Maybe the busy Corrie actresses didn’t have time to do a bit of research on the brands they were promoting, which would have meant they’d landed on this suspiciously low-spec website, claiming that “Puttana Aziendale hold the key to unlocking mysterious powers from far-flung lands and are delighted to share them with those who deserve no less than a faultess mind, body and soul.”

Catherine Tyldesley
Catherine Tyldesley Bought Into The "Corporate Whore" Sting.

In promoting products such as “Mistique Spray” – a bottle of toner that contained only water – the stars allegedly breached marketing law. As reported by The Guardian, The Advertising Standards Authority states that individuals endorsing products on Twitter should make it clear using symbols "#spons" or "#ad".

The programme, that will “ go undercover to investigate what's real and what's fake in the brave new world of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter,” has been opposed by Corrie channel ITV who claim that celebrities did not receive any free Corporate Whore gifts nor were they in breach of “unlawful marketing promotion.” Channel 4 were threatened with legal action after they sent out a number of right-to-reply letters to individuals shown in the documentary.

Celebs, Brands and Fake Fans will air on Channel 4 on the 5th August at 8pm.