Over one in 10 (13.3%) alcohol adverts could be in breach of advertising rules by featuring people that appear to be under the age of 25, an ASA study has found.
The report, titled ‘The Depiction of Under 25s in Alcohol and Gambling Ads Online’, examined 13,000 paid-for and organic adverts for alcohol and gambling published online between July 2025 and November 2025.
It found that – on the whole – a greater proportion of alcohol ads were at risk of breaching the rules compared to gambling ads.
Some 10.8% of alcohol adverts analysed by the ASA’s AI-assisted Active Ad Monitoring system were given an “amber” rating, meaning there was a risk some people would perceive a person in the ad as being under the age of 25.
Meanwhile, 2.5% of alcohol adverts – from seven alcohol advertisers – received a “red” rating, meaning the ASA was confident a person in the adverts was under the age of 25. This was determined “by the person’s appearance, and/or other visual indicators, such as the setting, clothing or tagged accounts”, the watchdog said.
The CAP Code states that no one who is, or seems to be, under the age of 25 should be featured in alcohol or gambling advertising.
One advertiser, White Claw, published several adverts featuring UK university students, resulting in an upheld ruling in March.
The highest-risk ad types were organic posts and influencer ads, particularly where advertisers shared user-generated content featuring people’s faces, the ASA noted.
These ads “might not be subject to the same level of compliance scrutiny as would likely to be the case for ads appearing in paid-for space online”, it added.
Following the report, the ASA said it had contacted all advertisers that were identified as having published non-compliant ads.
These advertisers had “provided formal assurances that appropriate age checks will be carried out in future”, it added.
“Positively, our findings show that the vast majority of alcohol advertisers are getting this right and are taking care when it comes to the age of people featured in their ads,” said Carl Long, compliance executive at the ASA. “However, for those sharing content on social media or featuring people who may not obviously be over the age of 25 to some viewers, they should be especially cautious.
“The small number of advertisers we identified as publishing ads clearly posing a risk serve as a reminder that advertisers need to carefully consider who they feature in their ads. We’ll continue to proactively monitor this sector to make sure the rules are being followed and won’t hesitate to take action where we see irresponsible ads.”
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