ASA Dismisses Complaint Against Guinness’ Tweet*

The U.K. Advertising Standard Authority (ASA) has dismissed a
complaint alleging that a message on Diageo Great Britain Ltd.’s
Guinness® Twitter feed “implied that someone’s week would be
improved by drinking alcohol.” Filed by Alcohol Concern, the complaint
dubbed a tweet appearing on @GuinnessGB “irresponsible” for featuring
a photograph of the iconic brewery’s gates with the caption, “a good week
starts here.”

Dismissing the challenge, ASA ultimately agreed with Diageo Great
Britain that consumers would recognize the gates as belonging to St.
James Brewery in Dublin and would not confuse the brewery with a bar
or other social venue where alcohol was consumed. According to Diageo
Great Britain, the followers of @GuinnessGB would also understand the
tweet as part of a larger ad campaign highlighting individual workers at
the brewery.

“We also noted that the photo was tweeted on Monday,” states ASA.
“In this context, we considered that the ad was likely to be interpreted
as having a dual meaning: as an expression of opinion from those who
worked at the brewery about the week of work ahead and their enjoyment
of their work; and as an indication to the public that Guinness, which
began its journey to them at the brewery, could be consumed as part of a
‘good week.’”

To this end, the authority ruled that the Twitter advertisement did not
breach CAP Code rules 1.3 (Responsible advertising), 18.1, 18.3, 18.6 and
18.7 (Alcohol).

Issue 562

*This item was originally titled “U.K. Group Deems Guinness® Tweet “Irresponsible”