Bargain Booze ad cleared of being irresponsible

Published: 16 February, 2011

An advert offering students the chance to win a year's supply of drink from off-licence Bargain Booze in Crewe has been cleared of being irresponsible.

The poster appeared on a phone box during Fresher's Week and stated "WE LOVE STUDENTS! WIN a year's supply of drink!" and pictured an old-fashioned style black and white photo of a man lifting a small glass of wine.

Harpers sister publication the Morning Advertiser reported that one person complained to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that the ad was promoting irresponsible drinking because she believed the statement "We love students" was targeting under-age secondary school and college students, as well as university students.

Bargain Booze said the ad was targeted at University students and they ran a "very strict" Challenge-25 policy in store. It said the prize was the equivalent of one can of beer per day or one bottle of wine per week ? so within the recommended daily guidelines for alcohol consumption. Prizes were to be collected from the store once a week.

Daily guidelines
The ASA cleared the ad as it said readers who were under-18 would understand they were not eligible to win an alcoholic prize as they are not legally entitled to buy alcohol.

The ASA sought guidance from Drinkaware on whether the prize fell within the recommended daily guidelines for alcohol consumption.

It said winners would receive either 6.75 or 15.75 units at one time, which if consumed all at once would be over the daily recommendation. However, it concluded it was reasonable to distribute the alcohol on a weekly basis.

"We concluded that the ad did not promote irresponsible drinking amongst students and did not breach the advertising Code," it said.

Printer friendly version