Alcohol Ads Broke Rules

Two TV ad campaigns, for WKD and Smirnoff Ice, will not be shown again after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that they broke new regulations intended to prevent alcohol ads appealing to under 18s.

The new rules came into force on January 1 2005 as a result of widespread concern about drinking behaviour among young people, including excessive or binge drinking and anti-social behaviour.

Advertisers were given a nine-month grace period before change had to be reflected in the content of the ads.

Last December, the Broadcast Committee for Advertising Practice (BCAP) monitored television ads to ensure compliance with the new rules.

BCAP identified two ads for WKD, by Big Communications Ltd, and a series of seven ads for Smirnoff Ice, by Bartle Bogle Hegarty, which did not comply with the new regulations.

The ASA ruled that the Smirnoff Ice ads, which featured an Eastern European called Uri, contained characters likely to become cult figures with strong appeal to under 18s and that the ads therefore breached the rules.

Meanwhile, the advertising watchdog said that the humour in the WKD ads was juvenile and that they might encourage under 18s to drink, or think they should drink, alcohol.

ASA: 020 7580 5555 www.asa.org.uk