ASAI upholds compliants against Four Loko, Cassillero Del Diablo Wine

Post on Four Loko's TikTok page were found to be in breach of the ASAI Alcohol code

The Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland’s (ASAI) independent Complaints Committee has released its latest Complaints Bulletin, which contains 16 case reports on complaints recently investigated by the organisation. The list includes several for breaches in guidance on alcohol in advertising.

Eight of the 16 cases were upheld in full and three of the 16 cases were upheld in part. Advertisements across social media, online, radio and brochures were found to be in breach of the ASAI Code on grounds related to misleading, substantiation and alcohol. One intra industry / interested party complaint was upheld. The ASAI Complaints Committee chose not to uphold complaints made against three advertisements and issued one statement to an advertisement.

Below is a list of advertisements that have been found to be in breach of the ASAI’s Alcohol Code:

SuperValu Raheny (Musgraves)	Online (Social Media)	Alcohol	Issue 1: The complainant said the advertisement was advertising alcohol on a site for people under the age of 18.   Issue 2: The ASAI challenged whether the person depicted in the advertisement was aged over 25.	Issue 1: Not Upheld     Issue 2: Upheld	9.7(a)
Cassillero Del Diablo Wine (Richmond Marketing)	Online (Social Media)	Alcohol	The complainant considered that the advertisement encouraged people to ignore any allergic reaction to substances in wine and take an antihistamine to continue drinking, suggesting that allergies are not serious.	Upheld	3.3 and 9.8(f)
Four Loko (Richmond Marketing)	Online (Brand Social Media)	Alcohol	Issue 1: The complainant considered a post on the brands TikTok page to be in breach of the ASAI Alcohol code as there was no message to drink responsibly included.   Issue 2: The ASAI Executive did not consider the content of the advertisers TikTok account to be in conformity with the alcohol rules of the code. They referred the advertisers to four other posts on the page as a sample of the content uploaded and asked for their comments on the overall compliance of the content of the page and details of procedures in place to ensure compliance of the content.	Issue 1: Upheld   Issue 2: Upheld	9.4, 9.5(e), 9.7 and 9.8

The Complaints Committee is a completely independent arm of the ASAI and is responsible for considering and adjudicating on complaints submitted by the public, by an organisation, by a government department, or any other person or body. The Committee is made up of a range of experts from the advertising, media, education, consumer, and marketing sectors.

“The latest complaints bulletin from the ASAI shows the importance of our role in the Irish advertising industry, ensuring that advertisements are legal, truthful, decent and honest for all Irish consumers. The ASAI fully investigates all complaints thoroughly to ensure that advertisers in Ireland are not in breach of the high standards in the ASAI Code,” said Orla Twomey, chief executive of the ASAI.

“The ASAI also provides a free and confidential copy advice service to the advertising industry to help them create responsible ads that adhere to the advertising code. If an advertiser, agency, or medium has any concerns about a marketing communications’ compliance with the ASAI’s Code, they can contact us and avail of the free and confidential copy advice service.”