Imperial Tobacco has been whacked by the ad watchdog yet again, this time for a paid-for Facebook ad for Rizla UK which has been banned for trivialising and condoning the use of illegal drugs.
The ad, which was seen in July, featured an image of a brown, king size rolling paper. Next to the image, text stated, “This is doing nothing”, “Bro, lowkey think AI’s already in charge. You ever had beef with a self-checkout till? The way it moves passive-aggressive when it says ‘unexpected item in bagging area’ is actually wild”, and “I just wanna eat everything in sight.”
A caption stated, “Talk about perfect routine … [eyes emoji]”.
One Facebook user, who believed that the ad condoned the use of illegal drugs, challenged the Advertising Standards Authority to investigate whether the ad was irresponsible and breached the Code.
In response, Imperial Tobacco stated that it did not believe that the ad was irresponsible or condoned or encouraged illegal drug use, insisting that the complainant’s interpretation of the ad was subjective and unlikely to reflect the average consumer’s understanding of references to drugs.
The firm believed the ad did not contain any direct or indirect references to illegal drugs, either in its imagery or language. The focus was solely on the Rizla rolling paper product and the routine of rolling. It considered that references to hunger or distracted thoughts were broad human experiences not inherently linked to drug use.
The company referred to several previous ASA rulings, which it believed demonstrated that ads which featured explicit references to illegal drugs, or imagery that glamorised or condoned drug use, were considered irresponsible.
However, Imperial believed its ad was distinguishable, as it did not include any such references, and its tone was light-hearted rather than provocative. The firm believed that the absence of explicit drug references or depictions meant the ad was not in breach of the Code.
It said the ad followed a broader social media trend adopted by mainstream brands, which involved presenting stages of product interaction, using surreal, playful and exaggerated humour to engage audiences and provided examples of similar ads which used the trend.
In addition, Imperial maintained that the ad was targeted using settings which prevented users under the age of 18 from seeing the ad, even if shared. Additional interest-based restrictions were used to ensure the ad was only shown to adult audiences.
Despite all these arguments, the company admitted that the ad had since been withdrawn and would not be used again in the UK.
Not that this carried much truck with the ASA, which cited the CAP Code’s insistence that marketing communications for rolling papers must not condone or encourage the use of illegal drugs. Except in exceptional circumstances, for example, in the context of an anti-drug message, any reference to illegal drugs would be regarded as condoning their use.
Although the ASA acknowledged that there were no direct references to illegal drugs, it considered that consumers would understand the text, in combination with the layout and in the context of rolling papers, to be a reference to the psychological effects of smoking cannabis.
The watchdog considered that the phrases, “I just wanna eat everything in sight” and “Bro, lowkey think AI’s already in charge …” reflected effects commonly associated with cannabis use, such as an increased appetite, paranoia and a stream of distracted or irrational thoughts.
It further considered that the line, “This is doing nothing” would be understood as a reference to a delayed or weak effect from the use of drugs.
The ASA considered that, by referencing the effects of drugs as a subject of humour and including the caption, “Talk about perfect routine …”, the ad trivialised and condoned the use of illegal drugs.
While the watchdog acknowledged that the ad had been targeted to an adult audience using Facebook’s targeting and age gating settings, it concluded that, because the ad trivialised and condoned the use of illegal drugs, that it was irresponsible and breached the Code.
Banning the ad from appearing again in that form, the ASA went on to warn Imperial Tobacco about future activity.
Even so, this is not the brand’s first run-in with the watchdog; in fact Rizla advertising has been banned on multiple occasions, including a 2019 ASA ruling for ads that suggested smoking was safe and appealed to under-18s, and a 2003 ban on the phrase “twist and burn” for alluding to cannabis use.
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