A “misleading” BrewDog advert which appeared to claim that company’s fruit-flavoured beers constitute “one of your five-a-day” has been banned.
The contested phrase featured as the subject heading of a promotional email sent to customers on 20 July – advertising beers with names such as Lost In Guava, Pineapple Punch, and Lost In Lychee & Lime.
Defending its marketing, the Scotland-based brewing company claimed that its recipients were more likely to be aware of BrewDog’s “playful” style, and would therefore be more likely to recognise it as a “tongue-in-cheek remark”.
It also argued that recipients would generally understand that alcoholic beverages are not equivalent to portions of fruit or vegetables.
But on Wednesday, the advertising watchdog upheld a complaint from one recipient that BrewDog’s email was misleading – and has told the firm to refrain from making similar claims in future marketing.
In its ruling, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) acknowledged that the “five-a-day” claim “might be interpreted by some consumers as a humorous nod to the fruit flavoured beers featured” in the email.
“However, because the claim referred to well-known government advice on health and wellbeing, we considered that, in general, consumers would not expect advertisers to include such claims unless the advertised product was recognised as meeting the requirements of that advice,” the ASA said.
“Further, the claim appeared in the email’s subject heading, which we considered positioned it as a key element of the ad’s message.”
Many consumers would be aware that some craft beers contain “an unusually high amount of fruit”, meaning that consumers were likely to interpret BrewDog’s email to mean that the beers advertised did in fact count towards their “five-a-day”, the watchdog said.
The ASA ruled that the advert must not appear again, adding: “We told BrewDog to ensure that their future ads did not misleadingly imply that alcoholic beverages counted towards the five daily portions of fruit and vegetables recommended by government guidelines.”
A BrewDog spokesperson said: “We respect the ASA’s decision and are happy to confirm that beer is not a fruit or a vegetable.”
It is not the first time that BrewDog, based in the Aberdeenshire town of Ellon, has fallen foul of the advertising watchdog, after the brewing company told customers they could win a 24-carat solid gold beer can worth £15,00 – before facing complaints that the cans were in fact gold-plated.
Additional reporting by PA
