A digital-out-of-home (DOOH) ad for Zapp, a grocery delivery service, has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for suggesting that alcohol has therapeutic qualities and that it can change a person’s mood.
The electronic poster displayed a bottle of gin, two bottles of tonic water and a lime with text stating ‘Friday Feels – in minutes, 24/7’.
A complainant believed that the copy breached the Committee of Advertising Practise (CAP) Code which requires marketing communications to be ‘socially responsible’ in its advertising of alcohol.
Owners of Zapp, Quick Commerce Ltd, responded to the complaint by claiming that the phrase ‘Friday Feels’ reflected the association of Fridays – for many people in the brand’s key demographic – with the beginning of the weekend and ‘drinks with friends’.
The advertising watchdog added: “Quick Commerce considered the phrase would be understood as a reference to evoking an emotional response but not that alcohol was in some way mood altering.”
Clear Channel asserted its position that it was not for them to decide whether a campaign was suitable for publication, stating that advertisers were responsible for their own ‘compliance with all relevant codes and laws of advertising’.
Nevertheless, the ad authority understood that Zapp’s ad only appeared on Fridays which meant that the brand was specifically promoting the idea of consuming a ‘relaxing drink at the end of the working week’.
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“Although we acknowledged that the line “in minutes, 24/7” was a reference to the advertiser’s 24-hour delivery service, we also considered that “Friday Feels – in minutes, 24/7”, alongside a picture of gin and tonic bottles only, would be taken to mean that this feeling of relaxation could be achieved at any time of day, by drinking alcohol,” the ASA said.
“We therefore considered the ad implied that alcohol was capable of improving and changing mood and concluded that it breached the Code.
“We told Quick Commerce Ltd to ensure their ads did not suggest that alcohol was capable of changing mood by, for example, suggesting that it could accelerate feelings of relaxation.”
