The U.K. Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has barred Eden Mill Distillery from using a social media ad for Ramsay's Gin featuring cofounder and celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay that the organization found to have made non-permitted nutrition claims about alcoholic drinks. ASA received and investigated a complaint about a March 20 ad posted to Ramsay’s Gin’s Instagram and Facebook pages. The ad featured a bottle of Ramsay’s Gin with text that stated that the honeyberries used in the product “retain the rich flavours and micro-nutrients that come from Scotland’s wonderful terroir.” The ad additionally claimed the honeyberries contain “more antioxidants than blueberries, more potassium than bananas, more vitamin C than oranges.” After considering the ad’s claims, ASA concluded Eden Mill was not permitted to make claims regarding nutrient content in relation to alcohol. ASA upheld the complaint and barred the distillery from using the ad again in its same form. ASA…
Category Archives Advertising Standards Authority
The U.K. Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has not upheld complaints against Heineken UK Ltd. arguing that the company’s underground and Reddit advertisements particularly appealed to those under the age of 18. ASA received complaints about two ads, including a poster ad at Paddington underground station and a paid-for ad on Reddit. The ads included computer-generated images of people holding a can of Heineken beer. Complainants asserted that they are likely to appeal particularly to those under 18, in violation of CAP Code 18.14. ASA noted that the characters in the ads had been created specifically for Heineken's ad campaign and were not based on any existing characters. Additionally, ASA concluded that neither characters were shown engaging in any activity that would particularly appeal to those under 18. "Both were depicted wearing stylised clothing, and the female character’s armour-like clothing and stylised hair, in particular, were reminiscent of the sort of…
The U.K. Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld several complaints against Oatly UK Ltd. arguing that the company's advertisements misled consumers into believing the product is more environmentally friendly than the production processes actually are. The ads cited several statistics on the greenhouse gases generated by the dairy and livestock industries and asserted Oatly's production generated fewer emissions. ASA found that the statistics were presented in ways that consumers would be likely to misunderstand, such as the assertion that "Oatly generates 73% less CO2e vs. milk," which applied specifically to whole milk and not the broader milk category. The one complaint that was not upheld was the assertion that “If everyone in the world adopted a vegan diet, it would reduce food’s annual greenhouse emissions by 6.6bn metric tons (a 49% reduction)” because ASA found sufficient evidence to support the statement.
The U.K. Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint against BrewDog Beer for a print ad and an outdoor poster ad that displayed "F--k You CO2. Brewdog Beer Is Now Carbon Negative" with the dashes obscured by a can of beer. ASA found that the poster ad "had been placed in accordance with guidelines on proximity to schools and religious buildings; that the ad had run during school summer holidays and that one local authority (Newcastle City Council) had been asked and considered the ad acceptable for use." However, the board found that the ad "was so likely to offend a general audience that such a reference should not appear in media where it was viewable by such an audience. We therefore concluded that the ad was likely to cause serious and widespread offence and was not appropriate for display in untargeted media." ASA upheld the complaint as it…
The U.K. Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint against The Cornish Rum Co. against its ads marketing Dead Man's Fingers Hemp Rum. The complainant asserted that two Instagram posts and an ad in a trade magazine used language linking the hemp-infused rum to cannabis, including "Delicious mixed with coke or ginger ale—serve chilled, man. Coming to a joint near you." Another Instagram post featured an image of an outdoor ad reading "Warning: Our Hemp Rum May Cause the Munchies" along with "an image of a skull which was smoking and wearing a hat with a cannabis leaf print." The trade magazine ad included the text "Dealers Wanted." ASA dismissed the portion of the complaint arguing that the ad was intended to appeal to an audience under 18, finding that the images "were not references associated with youth culture and that overall the colours and imagery used gave each…
The U.K. Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint that a television advertisement "perpetuated a harmful stereotype by suggesting that men were incapable of caring for children and would place them at risk as a result of their incompetence." The ad showed a father leaving a baby in a carrier on a conveyor belt as he examined his food options, including Philadelphia cream cheese products. Mondelez argued that it showed two men caring for their children and "took care to ensure the babies were not shown to be coming to any harm." ASA found the arguments persuasive, but it noted that the commercial featured the mother handing the child to the father at the beginning and the father saying "Let's not tell mum" to the child at the end. In this context, ASA found, "we considered the ad relied on the stereotype that men were unable to care for…
The U.K. Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that Red Bull Co. made unauthorized health claims about purported benefits of its energy drink on mental focus and concentration. The company's subway advertisement featured cartoon women in an office setting with the text "The Secret to Finishing Early." The ad referenced a consumer initiative encouraging workers to leave the office early one September 2018 day. "The ASA considered that while the ad’s tone was light-hearted, the scenario it presented of being overwhelmed or busy at work was one that would be familiar and relatable to consumers," the agency's assessment summary states. "While we understood that the ad was intended to be part of a marketing initiative aimed at encouraging consumers to improve their productivity and leave at 4 pm on a specific day, we considered that the penultimate line of the poem, '… to leap every hurdle a hectic day brings'…
The U.K. Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has declined to take action against Bacardi-Martini Ltd. following a complaint that its television ad “was irresponsible because it encouraged immoderate drinking by implying that drinking should take place before and throughout a night out.” In its determination, ASA found that “a sealed bottle of Bacardi rum was shown on several occasions but none of the characters in the ad were shown actually serving or drinking the rum” until the group of characters reaches a bar. “The implication was that the group would drink some of the alcohol during their night out, but we noted that none of the characters shown in the ad seemed to be dancing, moving, or otherwise interacting with each other in a way suggestive of intoxication or excessive alcohol consumption at any point, including in the final scenes,” ASA ruled. “For those reasons we concluded that the ad did…
The U.K. Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld two complaints against Costa Coffee for a radio ad comparing the difficulty associated with the length of time for which an avocado is ripe—"sure, they'll be hard as rock for the first 18 days, three hours and 20 minutes, then they'll be ready to eat, for about 10 minutes, then they’ll go off"—to the ease of buying a breakfast sandwich at the coffee company's store locations. Two complainants argued to ASA that the ad "discouraged the selection of fresh fruit," and ASA agreed, finding that "comparisons between foods must not discourage the selection of options such as fresh fruit and fresh vegetables, which generally accepted dietary opinions recommended should form a greater part of the average diet." Upholding the complaints, ASA noted that, "although the ad was light-hearted, it nevertheless suggested avocados were a poor breakfast choice, and that a bacon roll…
The U.K. Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has declined to uphold a complaint arguing that Walkers Snacks targeted children under 16 with a product high in fat, salt or sugar by showing an advertisement for Doritos before YouTube videos. The complaint asserted that the “media or context” of the ad targeted children under 16, but ASA found that Walkers had taken “a range of steps to ensure that the ad was not targeted to children under the age of 16, using both age restrictions and interest based factors.” Walkers applied YouTube age-targeting restrictions by not approving the ad for families and instructing YouTube to show the ad to users logged into accounts with a self-reported age of 18 or older. “We understood from the complainant that the ad had been seen by an 8-year-old child who was not signed into YouTube, using a device used by both adults and children,” ASA…
