United Kingdom

A post on a social media platform promoting Elf Bar, an e-cigarette brand, was challenged by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The post appeared on Elf Bar’s server with a 5% discount code. 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 concluded that the information on Elf Bar’s server was not accessible to, or otherwise shared with, other users unless they had joined that server. Because the content in the server could only be found by those actively seeking it, the ASA considered the server a non-paid-for online space under the marketer’s control analogous to a website. Therefore, factual claims about nicotine-containing e-cigarettes and their components were permitted in that space. Notwithstanding that, the ASA found that the discount code in the ad was promotional in nature in that it went beyond factual descriptions of Elf Bar’s products. The ASA ordered that the ad not appear again in the form complained about.