ASA Ruling on British American Tobacco UK Ltd.
ASA Ruling on British American Tobacco UK Ltd., Internet (social networking) (2019).
- United Kingdom
- Dec 18, 2019
- Advertising Standards Authority
ASA Ruling on British American Tobacco UK Ltd., Internet (social networking) (2019).
Following complaints by leading health organizations, the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that British American Tobacco (BAT) can no longer use any public Instagram account to promote e-cigarettes in the UK. The ruling includes BAT’s use of influencer marketing to advertise e-cigarettes and orders BAT to remove unlawful e-cigarette advertising content currently on Instagram.
UK regulations clearly prohibit online advertising of e-cigarettes, but allow a manufacturer to provide factual product information such as the name, content and price of the product on its own websites. The ASA ruling has clarified that public social media accounts, like @govype run by BAT, are not analogous to a website, and therefore, neither factual nor promotional content for e-cigarettes is permitted.