TikTok Ad Featuring Drinks That ‘Actually Get You Drunk’ Banned

TikTok videograb issued by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) of Rosie Breen’s post. (ASA via PA Media)

TikTok has removed an alcoholic drink promotion post that was found to have breached multiple British advertising rules, the UK’s advertising regulator said on Wednesday.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld three challenges against the post, saying it made forbidden low-calorie claims, risked encouraging excessive drinking, and featured someone under 25 years old.

The ASA said it was told by TikTok that the video had been branded content promoting alcohol, which was globally prohibited on their platform, and that it had been removed.

The post featured a video of influencer Rosie Breen, who was 24 years old at the time, dancing while holding a can of Whisp Drinks’ hard seltzer alcoholic drinks in each hand and pointing to further captions. The video was titled “3 REASONS I DRINK WHISP ALCOHOL.”

Nutrition Claims

Breen was seen pointing to a caption that read “Im [sic] on my weight loss journey & they’re only 63 calories a can.”

According to the ASA, a complainant said the claim was not permitted for alcoholic drinks.

Under the British advertising code, the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) code, it is permitted for alcoholic drinks ads to give factual information about product contents, but not permitted to make a low calorie or energy nutrition claim in relation to alcohol.

It would have been permissible to say the drink has 63 calories in a can, but the word “only” turned the statement into a nutrition claim by suggesting that the drink had the particular beneficial nutritional property of being low in calories, the ASA said.

The claim also breached two other CAP codes by making unauthorised health claims.

The code stipulates that nutrition or health claims in food or drinks ads must be supported by documentary evidence and authorised on the Great Britain nutrition and health claims register.

Breen apologised to the ASA, saying she was new to working with brands at the time and was unaware of the sensitive nature of the message and of the rules relating to non-permitted weight-control claims for alcohol products.

She also said the post reflected her opinion of the drink, and that she was happy to remove it and ensure future content was compliant with the rules.

They Actually Get You Drunk

In the video Breen also pointed to a caption that read, “They actually get you drunk.”

Combined with the title of the video, the ASA found that the ad could be interpreted as encouraging excessive drinking, and therefore was in breach of CAP Code 18.1, which requires marketing communications to “be socially responsible and ... contain nothing that is likely to lead people to adopt styles of drinking that are unwise.”

Breen told the ASA that she didn’t intend to promote irresponsible behaviour. She told the regulator that the comment was aimed at highlighting that the product still felt like an alcoholic drink as she had been unsure of Whisp Drinks products’ purpose when she first came across them.

Age Limit

The CAP Code also forbids people who are or seem under 25 to be shown drinking or playing a significant role in ads for alcoholic drinks.

The ASA concluded that Breen’s post breached the rule after the social media influencer confirmed that she was 24 years old at the time the ad appeared.

Wild Drinks Group, trading as Whisp Drinks, said it would remove the post, the ASA said.

According to the regulator, TikTok said that the video had been branded content promoting alcohol, which was globally prohibited on its platform, and that it had been removed.