A York brewery’s ‘tongue-in-cheek’ reference to breakfast beers landed it in hot water.
Brew York said its range of beers inspired by breakfast flavours were a way to “get those five-a-day in and start your day off right” in a promotion.
But it was wrong to imply its beers were healthy or should be consumed early in the day, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled.
It upheld two complaints about the advertising of its breakfast beers range, which it launched in April.
A tweet from the Walmgate based brewery said: “🥭 JUICE 🥭 The 2nd beer in The Breakfast Club Pack: JUICE 8% Guava, Papaya and Mango Smoothie Sour. For JUICE we’ve collaborated with Scottish Kings of Sours, @vaultcitybrewing, for a tropical fruit smoothie explosion to get those 5-a-day in and start your day off right! 🍑 🥭 ⏰”
This was by a shot of a table arrangement with mango, a can of the beer, and smoothie poured from a blender into a Brew York branded glass.
The complainant said the ad’s claim “get those five-a-day in and start your day off right” was a health claim that was not permitted for alcoholic drinks.
And they they believed the advert encouraged drinking at breakfast, which irresponsibly condoned and encouraged unwise styles of drinking or excessive drinking.
In response, Brew York said that the advertised beer’s ‘smoothie sour’ style was common in the craft beer industry, and that the beer was part of their “Breakfast Club” range that included several others inspired by flavours commonly associated with breakfast.
Taking flavour inspiration from breakfast items did not go so far as to encourage drinking at breakfast, they said.
The ASA said: “Brew York stated that ‘Get those five-a-day in’ had been intended as a tongue-in-cheek reference to the advertised beer’s fruity flavour and high fruit content.
“Because they thought it would be recognised as a cliché of breakfast-related ad copy, they believed consumers would interpret the phrase “start your day off right” as a playful nod to the beer’s inspiration.
“Because of their humorous intentions, they did not think the claim would be interpreted literally or viewed as a serious health claim. However, they added that, on reflection, they felt the claim should not have appeared in their advertising.”
The ASA then went on to consider whether the ad had breached its advertising code.
Complaint 1 – Upheld
The ASA said the ad included the text “Start your day off right!”, an alarm clock emoji, and referred to the beer being part of the “Breakfast Club Pack”.
“We considered those elements gave the impression that the beer was intended for drinking at breakfast time, rather than being related to the breakfast-inspired flavours of the product and product range,” it ruled.
“For those reasons, we considered that the ad encouraged and condoned drinking at breakfast, which we regarded as an unwise style of drinking. Because of that, we concluded the ad was socially irresponsible.”
Complaint 2 – Upheld
“We acknowledged that ‘get those 5-a-day in and start your day off right’ might be interpreted by some consumers as a humorous nod to the beer’s breakfast theme and ‘smoothie sour’ style,” the ASA writes.
“However, because we considered that the ad implied that the beer’s ingredients and recipe resembled that of a typical non-alcoholic fruit smoothie, we further considered that consumers would interpret the claim ‘Get those 5-a-day in’ as suggesting that, like a typical fruit smoothie, the advertised beer would count towards the five daily portions of fruit and vegetables recommended by government guidelines.
“Alcoholic drinks did not count towards a person’s ‘5 a day’, and the claim ‘get those 5-a-day in’ on its own would therefore be misleading.
“Because such health claims were not permitted for alcoholic drinks, we concluded that the ad breached the Code.”
Action
“The ad must not appear again in its current form,” the ASA ruled.
“We told Brew York Ltd and Vault City Brewing Ltd to ensure that their future ads were socially responsible and did not condone or encourage unwise styles of drinking, such as drinking at breakfast. We also told them not to make health claims about alcoholic drinks.”
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