Ad description
A paid for Facebook ad for Winedrops, a wine retailer, seen in January 2024, showed a woman holding a bottle of wine to her mouth. Text stated, “Save £100s every year….MASSIVE Wine Discounts”.
Issue
The complainant, who believed the ad encouraged drinking unwisely, challenged whether it was irresponsible.
Response
Banquist Ltd t/a Winedrops said they were sorry if the ad had caused any discomfort. However, they did not believe it encouraged excessive drinking. They said the ad showed the woman sipping from the bottle, but did not indicate that she would finish it or drink to excess.
They explained that they had included the image because it had been comical and relatable.
They further stated that they did not believe offering discounts on premium wine encouraged excessive drinking. They explained that their products were premium ones and therefore did not target vulnerable people, in the same way that very cheap alcohol did.
Assessment
Upheld
Marketing communications must be socially responsible and must contain nothing that is likely to lead people to adopt styles of drinking that are unwise. For example, they should not encourage excessive drinking.
The ASA noted the image of the woman holding a wine bottle and lifting it to her mouth to drink. We understood that wine generally was not drunk from the bottle, in part because a bottle contained approximately six servings and it was difficult to control how much was being drunk when drinking directly from the bottle. Therefore, the drinking style of the woman would have been interpreted as being associated with drinking quickly, excessively and without control.
We further noted the multiple references to the wine being discounted and inexpensive. In isolation, advertised discounts on alcohol or references to the value of wine were not generally problematic. However, the references to cheap and massively discounted wine, alongside the image of someone drinking an almost full bottle of wine directly from the bottle, were likely to indicate, in combination, a drinking style that was excessive and lacked control. The ad therefore encouraged a drinking style that was unwise and was irresponsible.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 18.1, 18.10 and 18.11 (Alcohol).
Action
The ad must not appear in the same form again. We told Banquist Ltd t/a Winedrops that future ads should be socially responsible and not contain anything that was likely to lead people to adopt styles of drinking that were unwise.
