You can not have failed to notice the Starbucks promotion this morning that offered everyone a free latte today before 12 noon (check out Brand Republic’s Pinterest board for pics). With free coffee on offer it isn’t much of a surprise to see it get so much attention, did you get one?

We’ve been hearing of branches packed out around the country as people queued up to try out the new double shot latte, but Starbucks has also been doing a bit of a Snickers and hired some celebrity tweeters to pump the promotion. Comedian Jimmy Carr for one has been enthusiastically tweeting away.

The tweets don’t say they are ads (see below), but we’ve heard from Starbucks PR firm Edelman that this is planned activity (Update, he shot a video, see below).

Tom Callow, consultant at Sceptre Social Media, who noticed the tweets: “Perhaps Jimmy Carr is just a big fan of Starbucks, but it’s interesting that he was so willing to mention the attributes of the new and improved latte. Followers can be sceptical about celebrities mentioning companies and may have suspicions about paid-for tweets, but we shouldn’t forget that they might just be fans of the brand themselves.”

It is also not the first time he’s shown his support for Starbucks and his tweets today have been very well retweeted. Nice for Starbucks to have someone like Carr on board tweeting away to his almost two million followers:

Come down to @StarbucksUK today before noon and you can have a #FreeStarbucks Latte – I’ll even settle the bill. What’s not to like?

— Jimmy Carr (@jimmycarr) March 14, 2012

Come down to @StarbucksUK today before noon and you can have a #FreeStarbucks Latte – I’ll even settle the bill. What’s not to like? — Jimmy Carr (@jimmycarr) March 14, 2012

This is a real thing – I wouldn’t joke about coffee. Starbucks have a new latte (extra shot & smooth milk) – they want people to try it.

— Jimmy Carr (@jimmycarr) March 13, 2012

If you want a free coffee tomorrow. Go to any @StarbucksUK before noon & get a #FreeStarbucks Latte on me. Seriously I got this, my treat. — Jimmy Carr (@jimmycarr) March 13, 2012

Carr’s tweets follow the advertising watchdog clearing the controversial Snickers’ Twitter campaign after ruling that tweets from Katie Price and Rio Ferdinand were identifiable to the public as advertising.

The Advertising Standards Authority had received two complaints about tweets from glamour model Price and footballer Ferdinand, which formed part of promotional activity for Snickers owner Mars, undertaken by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO.

The celebrity tweets were probed by the ASA after they seemingly wrote out-of-character “teaser” Tweets about knitting and the economy, before posing pictures of themselves with the chocolate bar.

Although it is obvious to most that Carr’s tweets are ads should he have to say it clearly? Should there be some kind of ad tag?