Bitter ramifications

Young’s Brewery has been ordered by the Advertising Standards Authority to withdraw two posters following consumer complaints

In an extraordinary decision, which signals a crackdown on the scope of alcohol advertising in the UK, Young’s Brewery has been ordered by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to withdraw two posters following consumer complaints.

Both advertisements featured a man dressed in a suit, with the head of a ram, and the phrase “This is a ram’s world”. Also depicted was a pint of Young’s Bitter, with the company’s logo. The first poster showed the figure standing near a swimming pool with women in bikinis gazing at him. In the second poster the “ram” was seen in a gentleman’s club, surrounded by men laughing at a joke he seemed to have told.

The ASA ruled that it was likely that both posters linked alcohol with social success. This was seen as a violation of Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) rules that restrict advertising from linking the drinking of alcohol to the “success of any personal relationship or social event”.

In addition, it was ruled that the swimming-pool advert was seen to link Young’s Bitter with seduction, a violation of another CAP rule. This was despite the ASA’s acknowledgement that “the scene did not suggest the ram would be sexually successful with the women around the pool”. It apparently just suggested that those who drink Young’s were more likely to be seduced.

Young’s say, “the ‘ram’ was not intended to be a man and did not represent its target audience”. For more on this story see the next issue of the drinks business.