UKG Brunch, which claims to be the UK’s largest daytime garage party, has been forced to pull the plug on a Facebook campaign which showed a group of young women staggering around legless, after seemingly attending one of its events.
The first post featured a video showing two young women who appeared to be inebriated walking then falling over on a pavement. A third woman was then shown falling into a bush.
Superimposed text on the video stated “Leaving a Bottomless Party like…” A caption on the post stated “We All Have A Friend Like Girl No.3! … #UKGBrunch #DaytimeRaver #drinkresponsibly”. The post also featured a link to buy tickets to UKG Brunch’s events.
A second post, featured a video of two women who appeared to be inebriated walking out of a building and then falling over on the pavement, with the UKG Brunch logo displayed.
Superimposed text on the video stated “Causually leaving a Bottomless Brunch.” A caption on the post stated “It’s The 3rd Girl At The End … The Countdown IS ON Until We Reopen…”
But three complainants contacted the Advertising Standards Authority to challenged whether the ads were irresponsible because they encouraged excessive drinking.
In response, UKG Brunch said the posts were only intended to provide light hearted relief following a difficult year. It said the women shown in the videos were not associated with, and had not even attended, UKG Brunch’s events, and that both posts had featured the hashtag “#drinkresponsibly”.
Once notified of the complaints by the ASA, the firm said it had amended the captions on both posts to state “Drink Responsibly Guys!! (disclaimer: we don’t condone irresponsible drinking) #drinkresponsibly”.
But, while the ASA noted that neither of the videos featured alcohol or the consumption of alcohol, and acknowledged UKG Brunch’s comments that the women not attended its events, it we considered that consumers would interpret the videos, as an incitement to attend events and drink excessively.
It added that the posts encouraged excessive drinking by presenting binge drinking alcohol in a humorous light and by normalising and trivialising the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption – and even the amended versions still broke the rules.
Banning the post from running again, the watchdog warned UKG Brunch to ensure that that their future marketing communications relating to alcohol were socially responsible and did not imply, condone or encourage excessive consumption of alcohol.
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