A Brewdog advert has been banned for claiming its fruit-flavoured beers were “one of your five a day”.
The craft brewer sent out a marketing e-mail to customers advertising drinks with names that included Lost in Guava, Pineapple Punch and Lost in Lychee and Lime.
The ad featured the subject heading “One of your five a day,” and text which stated: “Quench your thirst while soaking up the sun (or rain) with our fruit-laden favourites. From Pineapple Punch to our limited edition Hazy Jane Passionfruit, we’ve got all your fruit needs covered”.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) launched an investigation after receiving one complaint that the ad was misleading because the beers were not equivalent to portions of fruit or vegetables.
‘Playful marketing style’
Ellon-based Brewdog told the ASA the claim was intended to be tongue-in-cheek and reflected the firm’s “playful marketing style”.
They highlighted that the e-mail was only sent to existing Brewdog customers who had previously opted-in to receive their marketing materials.
They said they felt many consumers would be familiar with beer manufacturers’ tendency towards describing their beers with reference to fruit, and understand that such comparisons were not made with the intention of implying an equivalence between the two.
The advertising watchdog has now banned the advert, which was sent to customers in July, and said it breached the Advertising Code by making misleading claims.
In a written ruling, the ASA said: “Government guidelines recommended people eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day (‘5 A Day’).
“The ASA acknowledged that the subject heading ‘One of your five a day’ might be interpreted by some consumers as a humorous nod to the fruit-flavoured beers featured in the body of 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.”
Claim is ‘misleading’
They added the fact the claim was in the e-mail subject heading made it seem a “key element” of the ad.
The ruling adds: “We considered that, in general, consumers would be uncertain as to whether an alcoholic beverage with fruit content counted as a portion of fruit under the government’s ‘5 A Day’ advice, or whether some of the nutritional benefits of a ‘5 A Day’ portion would be retained.
“We, therefore, considered consumers were likely to interpret the claim ‘One of your five a day’ to mean that the fruit-flavoured beers in the ad’s body copy counted towards the recommended five daily portions of fruit and vegetables.
“Because alcoholic drinks did not count towards a person’s ‘5 A day’, we concluded that the claim was misleading.”
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