Close-Up: Live issue - Can alcohol ads continue to survive?

The ASA's rulings against Smirnoff Ice and WKD may set a difficult precedent, Noel Bussey says.

This week, both Diageo and Beverage Brands (UK) felt the force of the Advertising Standards Authority's power. The alcohol manufacturers saw bans slapped on their advertising, respectively, for Smirnoff Ice and WKD.

The ASA ruled that the ads had a strong appeal to under-18s. This put them in direct contravention of the Advertising Standards Code, which was revised in January 2005 following increased concern over the rise of binge-drinking and anti-social behaviour among young people.

Alcohol ads can now no longer link drinking with sexual activity or imply it increases attractiveness. They must also not be seen to be appealing to under-18s, in particular by reflecting youth culture, something the ASA ruled the Smirnoff Ice and WKD campaigns did.

Diageo disagrees, and believes that it has enough fail-safes in place to self-regulate properly the advertising it creates. The company has a three-stage marketing code by which its ads are vetted against the regulations: the ad is checked by the agency at the script stage, again once it has been made, and, finally, when it is submitted to the BACC.

The bans are the first since the new regulations were introduced, and there are fears that the precedents they set could change the way in which alcohol advertising is created in the future.

One of the points that the ASA raised was that the Smirnoff Ice Uri character was linked to popular culture because the actor had been in a band in Iceland.