With an increased focus on health and wellbeing, new products may appear on the market claiming to help us stay healthy or lose weight, but can these claims be made about alcoholic drinks? Even if they contain unique ingredients or have fewer calories than other beverages? Read on to find out more.
Keeping in the spirit of responsible advertising
According to CAP code 18.17 and BCAP code 19.18, marketing communications for alcoholic drinks may give factual information about product contents, including comparisons, but must not make any health, fitness or weight-control claims.
The only permitted nutrition claims are "low alcohol", "reduced alcohol" and "reduced energy" and any claim likely to have the same meaning for the consumer.
Health claims are defined as those that state, suggest or imply a relationship between a food or ingredient, and health. Nutrition claims are defined as those that state, suggest or imply that a food (or drink) has particular beneficial nutritional properties due to the number of calories, nutrients or other substances it contains, does not contain, or contains in reduced or increased proportions.
Marketers should also be mindful of the food rules around health and nutrition in section 15 of the CAP code and section 13 of the BCAP code.
What claims are not allowed?
Let’s take a look at some examples of alcohol ads that fell foul of these rules.
Weight-control claims
The ASA has upheld a number of complaints about alcohol ads that made prohibited claims in relation to weight-control. These included an Instagram ad for a wine brand that contained a “Skinny” claim in the product’s name; a TikTok ad in which an influencer referred to consuming a hard seltzer alcoholic drink as part of their weight loss journey; and three Facebook posts that made a feature of a lager’s calorie content beyond just factual information.
Nutritional claims about ingredients
Two social media ads for a gin brand were found to have broken the rules by making nutritional claims about the ingredient Honeyberries. The claims that referred to the berries being a ‘micro-nutrient’ and ‘antioxidant’ were not authorised on the GB NHC Register and were not permitted nutrition claims for alcohol, so the complaint was upheld.
General health claims
A tweet for a fruit flavoured beer was considered to be irresponsibly encouraging drinking alcohol at breakfast and contained the claim “get those five-a-day in and start your day off right”, which was upheld, as it included a health claim that was not permitted for alcoholic drinks.
Read more: Alcohol: Health, diet and nutritional claims and Food: Health and nutrition general
What about therapeutic claims?
Alcohol ads must not only avoid claims about physical health, but they also must not claim that alcohol has therapeutic qualities. According to CAP code 18.7 and BCAP code 19.8, this includes any claims that state or imply that alcohol is capable of changing mood, physical condition or behaviour or as a source of nourishment.
Marketers should take care when using humour in alcohol ads, as light-hearted jokes could still be considered to be making a claim that alcohol has therapeutic qualities. This was demonstrated by a pirate themed Facebook ad for a rum brand that presented drinking alcohol as a solution for problems in life which might include mental health concerns.
Read more: Alcohol: Therapeutic claims
Do the same rules apply to alcohol alternatives?
While the recently added Alcohol Alternatives section of the CAP and BCAP codes does not prohibit health and nutrition claims being made about beverages with an ABV at or under 0.5%, marketers should be aware that where an ad for a drink at or below 0.5% has the effect of promoting an alcoholic drink, the Alcohol rules apply in full. Any ads for alcohol alternatives would also need to comply with the relevant food rules.
Read more: Alcohol: Alcohol Alternatives and Zero Alcohol
For further advice on alcohol advertising please see our advice and guidance. Our Copy Advice team is also on hand to provide free, bespoke advice on non-broadcast ads.
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