Alcohol Marketers Hit by Advertising Code

Advertisements for XXXX, Jack Daniel’s and Bavarian Bier Café were among seven found in breach of the Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code (ABAC) in 2015, the initiative’s annual report has revealed.

The Year in Review 2015 report said 133 complaints were received by ABAC about alcohol advertisements shown on free-to-air television, outdoor billboards, online video streaming channels, social media and packaging, among other media.

Twenty nine investigations were launched as a result of the complaints and seven upheld by the quasi-regulatory body.

Urban Purveyor Group was the biggest hit by the code, receiving requests from ABAC to remove three advertisements by its Bavarian Bier Cafe and Lowenbrau Keller venues.

The pictured advertisement that used the tagline “Is Steve really shy?”, was said in a complaint to depict the female characters as “sexual objects, happy to be grabbed by drunk men.”

The complaint said the advertisement, “sends the message to men that it is ok to drink to the point that you lose your inhibitions and stop being ‘shy’, encouraging them to grab women and suggesting this is appropriate behaviour.”

Complaints were accepted by ABAC and the advertisement was removed within 16 days of the regulatory panel’s determination.

ABAC also received complaints about a XXXX TV ad that showed the main character consuming alcohol while tending to a barbecue that had caught on fire. ABAC said that the ad breached standards relating to safety and alcohol use and that it should be removed.

A Youtube video promoting Jack Daniel’s historical relationship with famous musician Sinatra also came under investigation by ABAC in 2015, after receiving complaints concerning that the video was “attributing creativity and success in music to alcohol abuse in the context of a ‘rockstar’ lifestyle”.

Alcohol marketing communication must not “show (visibly, audibly or by direct implication) the consumption or presence of an Alcohol Beverage as a cause of or contributing to the achievement of personal, business, social, sporting, sexual or other success”, ABAC said in its determination to remove the video.

Other advertisements removed by ABAC in the course of the year included those produced by Soho Bar and Little Fat Lamb Hard Apple Cider.

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