Ad description
Three outdoor posters for Blu electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) seen in July 2019: a. The first ad, seen on a bus, featured a stylised drawn character of a woman wearing sunglasses and holding an e-cigarette. The ad featured the headline claim “I blu do you?” alongside the claim “NEW MYBLU. HANDY AND EASY VAPING”. Small text to the right of the image stated, “FOR EXISTING ADULT SMOKERS & VAPERS ONLY”. Smaller text underneath stated, “this product contains nicotine 18+ only. Not a smoking cessation product”.
b. The second ad, seen on a bus, featured a stylised drawn character of a woman and a man wearing sunglasses and with each holding an e-cigarette. The ad featured the headline claim “you blu too? who knew?” alongside the claim “NEW MYBLU. HANDY AND EASY VAPING”. Small text to the right of the image stated, “FOR EXISTING ADULT SMOKERS & VAPERS ONLY.” Smaller text underneath stated, “this product contains nicotine 18+ only. Not a smoking cessation product”.
c. The third poster featured a stylised drawn character of a woman wearing sunglasses holding an e-cigarette, and featured the headline claim “I’m new to blu” alongside text “NEW MYBLU. HANDY AND EASY VAPING”. Small text underneath the image stated, “FOR EXISTING ADULT SMOKERS & VAPERS ONLY”. Very small text underneath stated, “this product contains nicotine 18+ only. Not a smoking cessation product”.
Issue
Allen Carr Easyway (International) Ltd and 12 members of the public challenged whether the ad encouraged non-smokers and non-nicotine users to use e-cigarettes.
Response
Imperial Tobacco Ltd t/a Blu believed that all three ads only targeted existing smokers or vapers. They said that the claim “For Existing Adult Smokers & Vapers Only” clarified that the ads were only directed at existing smokers and vapers. They believed that the targeting statement was displayed prominently on the ads and specifically used a dark text colour in contrast to the light blue background so it could be read clearly. That targeting statement was larger than the nicotine wording and, where space allowed, they made sure that it was at least the same size as on their website www.blu.com.
Assessment
Not upheld
The CAP Code required that ads for e-cigarettes must not encourage non-smokers or non-nicotine users to use e-cigarettes. The ASA noted that all the ads contained the wording, “For Existing Adult Smokers & Vapers Only”. We considered that text alone was unlikely to deter a non-smoker or non-nicotine user from responding to an ad and that the ads needed to comply with the rule when each was taken as a whole.
We noted that all the ads featured stylised drawn characters who were all shown vaping and we considered that there was nothing in how they were presented that was likely to suggest to non-smokers particularly that the product was for them. We also considered that the taglines in ad (a) and (b), “I blu, do you” and “you blu too? Who knew?” would similarly speak to a general audience and did not actively suggest to non-smokers that they should take-up vaping. We considered the tagline in ad (c), “I’m new to blu”, would be interpreted by consumers to mean that the character had recently started using the advertised product specifically, rather than them being a non-nicotine user who was “new” to nicotine products in general.
We concluded that the ads did not encourage non-smokers and non-nicotine users to use e-cigarettes.
We investigated the ad under CAP Code rule 22.8 (Electronic cigarettes), but did not find it in breach.
Action
No further action necessary.
