The company behind the “Magaluf Booze Cruise”, which featured in The Inbetweeners Movie, has been slapped down by the ad watchdog for linking drinking with sexual success.
An ad, which featured on the Magaluf Events website, promoted the 2018 Sunset Booze Cruise and left little to the imagination by showing women kissing, one woman drinking from a spirits bottle and a man rubbing his face into a woman’s chest.
Revellers were also shown holding up signs, including “I’m behaving badly on Sunset Booze Cruise”, “Single as F***”, and “I left my boyfriend back in England”. The ad went on to boast: “You’ll see the mayhem we cause on the Mediterranean is unrivalled anywhere on the planet!”
However, not everyone was impressed, with one website visitor rifling off a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority. They challenged whether the ad irresponsibly promoted excessive consumption of alcohol and linked alcohol with sexual success at the event; they also claimed whether those featured in the ad appeared to be under the age of 25.
In response, Magaluf Events denied the individuals were under the age of 25 which is against the CAP Code when marketing alcohol. However, the firm did acknowledge that there were “issues” with elements of its content and images regarding the promotion of sexual activity and alcohol consumption and stated that it was willing to make amendments to its website.
But the ad watchdog was having none of it, ruling that several revellers looked younger than 25, some of whom were actually shown drinking.
It added: “We considered images of a sexual nature were featured on the event page, [those featuring] attendees holding up signs were sexually suggestive.
“We considered the ad’s emphasis on the large quantities of alcohol offered and the inclusion of the images selected from the image gallery to promote the Booze Cruise event linked alcohol with sexual activity and therefore breached the Code.”
Banning the ad from appearing again in its current form, the ASA also issued a stiff warning to Magaluf Events over its future advertising.
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