ASA Ruling on British American Tobacco UK Ltd.

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.

ASA Ruling on British American Tobacco UK Ltd., Internet (social networking) (2019).

  • United Kingdom
  • Dec 18, 2019
  • Advertising Standards Authority
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Parties

Plaintiff

  • Action on Smoking and Health
  • Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
  • Stopping Tobacco Organizations and Products

Defendant British American Tobacco UK Ltd

Legislation Cited

Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 (TRPR)

Related Documents

Type of Litigation

Tobacco Control Topics

Substantive Issues

None

Type of Tobacco Product

"The ads must not appear again in the form complained about. We told British American Tobacco UK Ltd that marketing communications with the direct or indirect effect of promoting nicotine-containing e-cigarettes and their components which were not licensed as medicines should not be made from a public Instagram account in future, unless they had taken steps to ensure they would only be distributed to those following their account and would not be seen by other users. If advertising in media permitted under rule 22.12, they must not show people who are, or seem to be, under 25, using e-cigarettes or playing a significant role."
"Notwithstanding that we did not consider the ad was permitted on Instagram as set out in point 1, CAP Code rule 22.10 prevented anyone shown using e-cigarettes or playing a significant role must neither be, nor seem to be, under 25. While we acknowledged British American Tobacco took steps to verify the model’s age before the ad was published and welcomed their action to remove the ad once they became aware of the issue, we understood ad (c) showed someone who was 24 years old at the time the ad was released. We therefore concluded the ad breached the CAP Code on that basis too."
"[W]e considered that material from a public Instagram account was not analogous to a retailer’s own website and that material posted from such an account was therefore subject to the prohibition on advertising of unlicensed, nicotine-containing e-cigarettes, meaning that neither promotional nor factual content was permitted. Notwithstanding the above, we considered that in any case the ads contained content which clearly went beyond the provision of factual information and was promotional in nature.... Because we considered that material distributed from a public Instagram account was not analogous to a website, meaning that neither promotional nor factual content that promoted nicotine-containing e-cigarettes was permitted, we concluded that the ads should not have appeared in that manner and therefore breached the CAP Code."