Harmful

All ads should be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and society. They must not cause serious or widespread harm or use approaches that are likely to encourage socially irresponsible behaviour.

This includes not causing fear or distress without justifiable reason (and where justified, the fear or distress should not be excessive) and not condoning or encouraging unsafe practice.

We have upheld complaints about harm and social responsibility against a diverse range of ads including:

Alcohol – e.g. not encouraging excessive or unwise styles of drinking
Motoring – e.g. not encouraging motorists to drive irresponsibly such as at high speed or without a seatbelt
Health – e.g. not discouraging essential treatment of serious or prolonged ailments
Body Image – e.g. not encouraging an unhealthy diet or lifestyle including the depiction of extremely thin models

Particularly special care should be taken when ads are addressed to, or depict, children or young people. Ads that fall in to this category should contain nothing that is likely to result in a child’s physical, mental or moral harm and they should not exploit a child’s credulity, loyalty, vulnerability or lack of experience.

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Latest rulings

ACME Vape Ltd
- Upheld in part
- Social media (own site), Cinema (ad)
- 04 December 2024
A cinema ad and post seen on IVG Vape’s LinkedIn page made unsubstantiated health claims and promoted unlicensed nicotine-containing vapes in unpermitted media but wasn’t directed at people under 18 through the selection of media in which it appeared.
Samsung Electronics (UK) Ltd
- Upheld
- Internet (website content)
- 27 November 2024
A website promotion misleadingly described a promotional item as “free”, did not make clear promotional items would have to be purchased upfront before being redeemed via a cashback mechanism and omitted significant conditions.
Great Grass MCR Ltd t/a Great Grass
- Upheld
- 13 November 2024
A poster was socially irresponsible and caused serious or widespread offence by featuring a harmful gender stereotype and objectifying women.
FL19 CIC t/a Frontline 19
- Not upheld
- Cinema
- 17 July 2024
A cinema ad for a non-profit support service wasn't irresponsible and did not cause unjustifiable distress.

View all rulings

Harmful

All ads should be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and society. They must not cause serious or widespread harm or use approaches that are likely to encourage socially irresponsible behaviour.

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Latest rulings

ACME Vape Ltd

Samsung Electronics (UK) Ltd

Great Grass MCR Ltd t/a Great Grass

FL19 CIC t/a Frontline 19

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