Ad description
A Video on Demand (VOD) ad and a YouTube ad for Notonthehighstreet, a gifts retailer:
a. The VOD ad on My5, seen on 15 November 2022, opened with a man lying on his living room floor doing sit-up exercises. The voice-over stated, “This is the only six-pack you should be working on, Merry Christmas” and a six-pack of beer cans appeared in his hands.
b. The pre-roll ad on YouTube, also seen on 15 November 2022, was the same as ad (a).
Issue
The complainants, challenged whether ads (a) and (b) were irresponsible and breached the Code because they encouraged excessive drinking and implied that alcohol might take priority in life.
Response
NotOntheHighStreet Enterprises Ltd t/a Not On The High Street said the ad had four different vignettes that showed different gifting recipients and a suggestion of a gift from the gift buyer that they might like to receive at Christmas. They said the tone of the ad was joyful and light-hearted and it focused on celebrating Christmas with gift ideas for all the people in someone’s life, from their personal trainer to their dog walker.
Not On The High Street said the opening scene showed a personal trainer doing sit-ups and the gift chosen for him was a six-pack of craft beer with the voice-over saying, “This is the only six-pack you should be working on, Merry Christmas.” They said the idea behind the ad was that a personal trainer who was focused on health and fitness as a profession, was working on his abdominal six-pack. The recipient had chosen to give him a six-pack of beer, which they believed was a standard gift pack for alcohol, as a gift to enjoy at Christmas and as a light-hearted nod to being a personal trainer. They said the actor was not shown consuming the beer.
Not On The High Street said alcohol was not the focus of the ad, but merely one gift choice out of four products shown, the rest of which were non-drink related. The ad was approved by Clearcast and was also pre-tested on a panel of 1000 adults who were nationally representative of the UK population and no issues were raised.
Clearcast said they took into account that Not On The High Street was advertising gifts for the Christmas period. They said the six-pack of beers was presented as a gift set which was not shown to be consumed immediately. They believed there was no implication that the man should drink the six-pack all at once and as no time frame was given, the inference was that he could consume the beer over the festive period.
They did not believe the ad portrayed alcohol as indispensable or as taking priority, as the man was not shown drinking the alcohol. They said the ad was clearly about the holiday season and having a break.
My5 said the ad was approved by Clearcast and they had not received any complaints about the portrayal of alcohol in the ad.
Assessment
Not upheld
The ad opened with a scene of a man at home doing sit-up exercises. The voice-over then said, “This is the only six-pack you should be working on, Merry Christmas” and a six-pack of beer appeared in the man’s hands. The ASA considered viewers would understand the term “six-pack” both as a reference to the abdominal muscles the man was exercising and as a pun or wordplay on the six-pack of beers and we acknowledged the light-hearted tone of the ad.
The ad featured several scenes of gifts being given at Christmas, which included the gift of a six-pack of beer. We accepted that alcohol might typically be given as a Christmas gift and that beer was commonly sold as a pack of six. In the context of Christmas gift-giving, we considered viewers would understand that a six-pack of beer would be consumed over the wider holiday season or a longer period. We did not consider that the ad inferred that the man should drink all the beers in one sitting.
We also considered viewers would expect Christmas to be a time when people altered their normal routines and might choose to take a temporary break from exercising. We noted the man was not featured drinking the beer. We did not consider the statement “This is the only six-pack you should be working on”, or the wider scene, suggested he should swap his exercises for drinking beer instead.
For those reasons we concluded the ad did not encourage excessive drinking or imply that alcohol might be indispensable or take priority in life and was not in breach of the Code.
We investigated the ad under CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 18.1 18.1 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. Care should be taken not to exploit the young, the immature or those who are mentally or socially vulnerable. and 18.6 18.6 Marketing communications must not imply that alcohol might be indispensable or take priority in life or that drinking alcohol can overcome boredom, loneliness or other problems. (Alcohol), but did not find it in breach.
Action
No further action necessary.
