A poster for BrewDog broke advertising rules by implying alcohol could overcome boredom, loneliness or other problems, the ASA has ruled.
The poster – advertising BrewDog’s Wingman Session IPA – featured the text: “Some things in life go AWOL – WiFi fails, the weather turns hostile, and your buddy’s ‘five minutes’ turns into a full-scale delay. But Wingman? Wingman stands firm. Always on station, always mission-ready, always got your back. Because every great operation deserves a great Wingman.”
A complainant challenged whether the ad implied that alcohol was a remedy for disappointment, suffering and isolation, and therefore breached the CAP code.
BrewDog said it did not believe the advert was in breach of guidelines. The advert did not suggest that alcohol was a solution to any form of personal, emotional or psychological difficulty, it pointed out.
The scenarios referenced in the ad were framed as mundane, everyday annoyances and not substantive problems requiring resolution, it said.
Meanwhile, the language used – such as “mission-ready”, “great operation” and “Wingman” – was metaphorical and designed to evoke camaraderie and reliability, not performance enhancement or emotional transformation, it argued.
However, the ASA ruled the scenarios presented were real-life problems that were likely to impact people in a negative way. The implication was that Wingman “was a solution to overcoming those problems that were likely to result in boredom, frustration and potentially loneliness”, it said.
For these reasons the ad implied that drinking alcohol could overcome boredom, loneliness or other problems and breached the code.
“We acknowledge the ASA’s ruling on our recent Wingman advert and we are disappointed with the outcome, which we believe does not reflect the spirit or intent behind the campaign,” a BrewDog spokeswoman said. “That said, we won’t be running the ad again.”
Global, the media owner, said it had received no complaints but had removed the ad from its sites.
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