Ad description
An Instagram post for Smokehead Whisky, dated 6 June 2022, featured an image in the foreground of a partially full bottle of whisky. In the background a woman was shown dressed in work overalls standing in front of a car with an open bonnet. Text stated “smokeheadwhisky Working hard or hardly working? Brilliant snap, keep em’ coming” accompanied by a skull and fire emoji.
Issue
The ASA challenged whether the whether the ad was irresponsible, because it linked alcohol with driving and an activity or location in which drinking would be unsafe.
Response
Ian MacLeod Distillers Ltd t/a Smokehead Whisky said they accepted responsibility for the post which was user-generated content. They said they understood that moderation was required whether it was user-generated or brand-generated content.
Smokehead Whisky said that on receiving notification of the complaint, the post was immediately deleted. They said they also audited all other content on their social media channels and would ensure staff received training from the Institute of Practitioners of Advertising, of which their agency was a member.
The agency, Guy & Co, said the ad was posted as a misunderstanding of the Code and the post was immediately deleted from the Smokehead social media channels and had been removed from circulation. They said they would ensure they followed the Code in future and would provide training for their staff so that it would not happen again.
Assessment
Upheld
The CAP Code stated that marketing communications must be socially responsible and must not link alcohol with activities or locations in which drinking would be unsafe or unwise, including driving. It also stated that only in exceptional circumstances may marketing communications feature alcohol being drunk by anyone in their working environment.
The ad featured a woman dressed in overalls looking into the open bonnet of a car in an enclosed space accompanied by text which stated, “Working hard or hardly working?” The ASA therefore considered the post would be understood as being set in the location of a car garage with a mechanic at work. We also considered in that context, that although the car was stationary, it would be expected that a mechanic would operate machinery and potentially would have to drive the car to manoeuvre it while working on it. We considered the mechanic was therefore in a location and engaging in activities in which consuming alcohol would be unsafe.In the foreground of the image, there was a bottle of Smokehead Whisky on the ground in the garage. While we acknowledged that the post did not show the mechanic drinking from the bottle, we noted that the bottle of whisky was partially full, and, as such, we considered that gave the impression that the mechanic had been drinking the whisky while at work. We considered that the reference to “hardly working” also added to that impression.
We welcomed Smokehead Whisky’s removal of the ad. However, given the setting, we concluded that the ad linked alcohol with activities and locations in which drinking would be unsafe and was therefore irresponsible and breached the Code.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
18.12
18.12
Marketing communications must not link alcohol with activities or locations in which drinking would be unsafe or unwise.
Marketing communications must not link alcohol with the use of potentially dangerous machinery or driving. Marketing communications may feature sporting and other physical activities (subject to other rules in this section; for example, appeal to under-18s or link with daring or aggression) but must not imply that those activities have been undertaken after the consumption of alcohol.
and
18.13
18.13
Only in exceptional circumstances may marketing communications feature alcohol being drunk by anyone in their working environment.
(Alcohol).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form complained of. We told Ian MacLeod Distillers Ltd t/a Smokehead Whisky to ensure their future ads were not irresponsible, for example, by linking alcohol with driving or with activities or locations in which drinking would be unsafe.
