ASA Puts Abbot Ale Complaints To Bed

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has dismissed complaints against an ad for Abbot Ale, which featured a woman lying suggestively in bed, despite claims that it was offensive and implied a link between alcohol and sexual success.

The Authority received a number of complaints about the ad, which was headlined “Some things get better given longer,” but concluded that although it drew parallels with sex, it did not imply a direct link between alcohol and sexual success.

The advertisers said that the ad, which appeared in the Telegraph Magazine and the Times Magazine, was stylish, tasteful and respectful and denied that it contained any explicit suggestion of sexual activity. They said that their intention was not to infer that drinking Abbot Ale would improve readers’ sex lives, but to advertise that their product is brewed longer for a distinctive flavour.

The ASA noted that the ad appeared only in broadsheet newspapers men’s magazines and threw out the complaints on the grounds that the ad was unlikely to cause serious offence.

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

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