Ad description
An email for Reserve Wines, sent 7 January 2021, featured the subject line “friend, forget Dry January”. Body text included, “Dear friend, Here we go again! Not quite the start to the year we were all hoping for, eh? January’s always a tough month – the fun of Christmas is over, it’s still cold, and there’s pressure to diet and exercise like a maniac. If, like us, you’re finding the thought of all that a bit much this year, read on. We do have lots of fantastic non-alcoholic options in store for those of you who are still committing to Dry Jan – but frankly that’s not for us (was it ever). Instead, we thought you might need all the help you could get over the next few weeks, so we’ve put together Lockdown 3.0 - a 6-bottle mixed case of fantastic reds and whites. A survival kit, if you will.”
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the ad was irresponsible, because they believed it promoted adopting drinking styles that were unwise, exploited those who were mentally and socially vulnerable and implied that alcohol could overcome problems in life and had therapeutic qualities.
Response
Reserve Ltd t/a Reserve Wines responded that they did not intend to exploit people who were mentally or social vulnerable, or imply that alcohol could overcome problems in life or have therapeutic qualities. Reserve Wines said that the ad was an email that would have been received only by people who had signed up to receive marketing from them. They said that they did not encourage excessive drinking and that the email suggested that the six bottle mixed case would last a few weeks. The email informed readers that they had non-alcoholic options and did not offer a discount on the alcoholic options.
Reserve Wines acknowledged that the subject of the email might have been deemed as encouraging people to ignore the concept of dry January. However, they said that the email did encourage choosing non-alcoholic drinks and did not dissuade people from choosing that option.
Reserve Wines acknowledged that the phrases “survival kit” and “all the help you can get” could be deemed a breach of the Code. They said that their intention was to take a light hearted approach and that in future they would ensure that their marketing communications complied with the Code.
Assessment
Upheld
The CAP Code stated that marketing communications must not exploit people who were mentally or socially vulnerable. It also stated that alcohol must not be implied to have therapeutic properties, or imply that it could overcome problems in life. Alcohol ads were prohibited from encouraging people to adopt drinking styles that were unwise.
The subject line stated “friend, forget Dry January”. The ASA considered that wording would be understood by email recipients as encouraging them not to take a break from drinking alcohol during ‘dry January’. We acknowledged that the tone of the email was light-hearted and the body of the email contained a reference to non-alcoholic options that were available from the advertiser. However, the body text also included the text “but frankly that’s not for us (was it ever). Instead we thought you might need all the help you could get over the next few weeks, so we’ve put together Lockdown 3.0 - a 6-bottle mixed case of fantastic reds and whites”. We considered that would be interpreted to mean that the alcoholic options should be preferred.
We further considered that “January’s always a tough month - the fun of Christmas is over, it’s still cold, and there’s pressure to diet and exercise like a maniac. If, like us, you’re finding the thought of all that a bit much this year, read on” alluded to January being difficult for people, particularly during the pandemic-related lockdown, which was commonly associated by many people with boredom, loneliness and poorer mental health due to decreased social interaction. In that context, because the email presented alcoholic drinks as something that could help people “get over the next few weeks” and as “a survival kit”, we considered it suggested that alcohol would help improve peoples’ moods, that it had therapeutic qualities that would help them overcome problems in life, and that it encouraged recipients to adopt styles of drinking that were unwise. We therefore concluded that the ad breached the Code.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 18.1, 18.6 and 18.7 (Alcohol).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form complained about. We told Reserve Wines to ensure that their ads did not encourage people to adopt styles of drinking that were unwise, suggest that alcohol might assist people who were mentally or socially vulnerable, or state or imply that drinking alcohol could overcome loneliness, boredom, or other problems, or that alcohol had therapeutic properties.
