Domino's splattered as Creme Egg cookie ad is fried

Domino’s Pizza has been slapped down for running an ad for its fat-ladened cookies – which contain a whole Cadbury’s Creme egg – which was directed at children through the selection of media, in breach of the current junk food advertising restrictions.

The issue concerned a paid-for YouTube ad for Domino’s Cadbury Creme Egg cookie product seen during a Minecraft feature on the channel Milo & Chip in March this year.

As the ad ran, a voiceover stated: “Domino’s cookies stuffed with a whole Cadbury Creme egg” as on-screen imagery showed the cookie being broken apart to reveal the egg filling.

Domino’s branded lettering stated: “Domino’s Cookies made with…” featured alongside the Cadbury Creme egg logo.

However, one eagle-eyed viewer rifled off a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority, challenging whether the ad was for a product that was high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) and was directed at children.

In its response, Domino’s Pizza UK & Ireland confirmed that the “Domino’s Cookies made with Cadbury Creme Egg” was an HFSS product.
However, the firm insisted it had ensured the ad was not directed at under-16s through the selection of media or the context in which it appeared, and that the campaign followed YouTube’s policy for HFSS products.

The company also said the ad was only shown to signed-in users, restricted to over-18s, and excluded all YouTube Made for Kids (MFK) channels. Domino’s said Google had confirmed the ad did not appear alongside any MFK content and was run from its account that was classified as HFSS.

The firm added that Minecraft had a broad and ageing audience, with worldwide users under-15 making up less than 21% of its player base, insisting that adult viewers, particularly those aged 35–44, made up a significant proportion of Minecraft content viewership on YouTube. It also referenced the “Minecraft Movie”, which it said featured adult humour and marketing targeted at adults.

And, while the company acknowledged that the Milo & Chip YouTube channel featured graphics that could appeal to children, it maintained that the channel had a broad audience and was not specifically aimed at kids, and that it was not labelled as MFK.

Domino’s also said the channel included content aimed at older viewers, with references in video titles to themes such as “killing”, “death” and “stalking”.

For its part, Google said that it provided advertisers with tools to ensure HFSS product ads were restricted to audiences aged 18 and over. Advertisers could self-declare ads as HFSS, in which case restrictions would apply. It said advertisers remained responsible for complying with relevant legal and regulatory requirements, including the CAP Code, and retained control over ad format, placement, and audience selection.

Even so, the ASA was quick to point out that, according to the CAP Code, HFSS product ads must not be directed at people under 16 years of age through the selection of media or the context in which they appeared.

The watchdog them cited the Ofcom report “Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes Report 2025” which stated that Minecraft fell within the most popular type of game among children. And, although the ASA acknowledged that Minecraft was not exclusively aimed at children, it considered it remained highly popular with under-16s.

The watchdog considered the use of Minecraft imagery, in which the characters and blocks were used in the style of the game, would have been appealing to children. In a addition, the dialogue used throughout the video was in the style of one of the main characters, Milo, who had a high-pitched and child-like voice.

The content of the dialogue also featured the phrase “don’t tell me you need to go potty”, which the regulator considered was reminiscent of terminology parents would use with younger children.

While the ASA did acknowledge that age-based targeting had been applied to the ad to exclude signed-in users under the age of 18 and that the ad had been excluded from YouTube’s MFK content, it ruled that those exclusions had proved insufficient to prevent the ad from being seen around videos on the channel, specifically during a Minecraft video.

Banning the ad from appearing again, the ASA went on to warn Dominos to ensure its ads were appropriately targeted and that ads that were unsuitable for viewing by children did not appear in media that was likely to appeal to children.

TOPICS:ad regulation ASA HFSS junk food