Background
Summary of Council decision:
Two issues were investigated, both of which were Not upheld.
Ad description
A poster ad and a paid-for Reddit ad for Heineken:
a. The poster ad, seen on 7 April 2022 at Paddington underground station, featured a computer-generated image of a woman with spiky grey hair, wearing futuristic armour-like clothing and holding a can of Heineken beer out towards the viewer. Crack marks radiated out from the can, as if the beer had been pushed through the screen. Text included, “NEW Heineken Silver Extra Fresh for real … EXTRA REFRESHING TASTE”.
b. The paid-for ad on Reddit, seen on 3 May 2022, featured a computer-generated image of a man wearing a T-shirt, jeans and a jacket with exaggerated zip detailing and holding a can of Heineken beer. Text on the image included, “NEW Heineken Silver Extra fresh … EXTRA REFRESHING TASTE”. Text accompanying the image stated, “@@@hh! Finally Extra Fresh For Real. Introducing Heineken Silver. Extra Fresh”.
Issue
The ASA received two complaints.
1. One complainant challenged whether ad (a) was likely to appeal particularly to people under the age of 18.
2. One complainant challenged whether ad (b) was likely to appeal particularly to people under the age of 18.
Response
1. & 2. Heineken UK Ltd responded with reference to CAP’s AdviceOnline entry on “Alcohol: Targeting and Appeal to Under 18s”, highlighting its points on the use of cartoons and characters, and on appeal and ‘youth culture’. They stated that both characters featured in the ads were created by Heineken specifically for the campaign. They were entirely fictional and therefore had no latent appeal, and they were not present on any digital platform or in any gaming format.
They highlighted that both characters were adults. The female character had grey hair, and the colours of her outfit were grey and rustic orange, which were chosen specifically to avoid appeal to under-18s. The male character was not wearing clothes with bright or pastel colours that would imply an appeal to under-18s.
Heineken said that the ad also did not play into typical traits or insecurities of young people and that there was no suggestion of achieving social acceptance by consuming the product. In both ads the characters were alone, the product was not shown being consumed, there was no music to appeal to youth culture and neither character was engaged in actions that would specifically appeal to under-18s.
Global, the media owner for ad (a), said that they had not received complaints about the ad and that all posters had been removed.
Reddit, the publisher of ad (b), said that they had not received complaints about the ad but had removed the ad while the ASA investigated the complaint.
Assessment
1. & 2. Not upheld
The CAP Code required that alcohol ads must not be likely to appeal particularly to people under 18 years of age, especially by reflecting or being associated with youth culture. They should not feature or portray real or fictitious characters who were likely to appeal particularly to people under 18 in a way that might encourage the young to drink. Alcohol ads must not, therefore, have content that would appeal more to under-18s than it would to over-18s.
The ASA noted that both characters had been created specifically for Heineken’s ad campaign and were not based on any existing characters. The female character was shown in a dynamic pose, pushing the beer can out towards the viewer, but we considered that neither the female nor the male character was shown engaging in any activity that would particularly appeal to under-18s. 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 stylisation seen in gaming avatars. However, we considered the stylisation in itself did not mean that the characters, or the ads, would have greater appeal to under-18s than to over-18s. Both ads featured muted colours and we considered there was nothing in the text which would appeal particularly to people under 18.
For those reasons, we concluded that the ads were unlikely to appeal particularly to under-18s and therefore did not breach the Code.
We investigated ads (a) and (b) under CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 18.14 18.14 Marketing communications must not be likely to appeal particularly to people under 18, especially by reflecting or being associated with youth culture. They should not feature or portray real or fictitious characters who are likely to appeal particularly to people under 18 in a way that might encourage the young to drink. People shown drinking or playing a significant role (see rule 18.16) should not be shown behaving in an adolescent or juvenile manner. (Alcohol), but did not find them in breach.
Action
No further action necessary.
