Limitations regarding the use of quotes
The quotes provided here reflect statements from a specific decision. Accordingly, the International Legal Consortium (ILC) cannot guarantee that an appellate court has not reversed a lower court decision which may influence the applicability or influence of a given quote. All quotes have been selected based on the subjective evaluations undertaken by the ILC meaning that quotes provided here may not accurately or comprehensively represent a given court’s opinion or conclusion, as such quotes may have originally appeared alongside other negative opinions or accompanying facts. Further, some quotes are derived from unofficial English translations, which may alter their original meaning. We emphasize the need to review the original decision and related decisions before authoritatively relying on quotes. Using quotes provided here should not be construed as legal advice and is not intended to be a substitute for legal counsel on any subject matter in any jurisdiction. Please see the full limitations at https://www.tobaccocontrollaws.org/about.
A paid-for Google ad for UKVAPINGSTORE, provided by the aggregator website Falcongalaxy.com, contained a picture of multiple e-cigarette products with overlaying text which stated, “UK VAPING STORE … Buy 3 Get 1 FREE … Buy 7 get 3 FREE … Buy 10 Get 4 FREE”. The caption below stated, “Pre Filled Replacement … £6.99 … eBay.co.uk … By Falcon G … Shop now”.
The ASA challenged whether the ad breached the CAP Code by promoting unlicensed, nicotine-containing e-cigarettes and their components through a sponsored link.
The ASA found that while the ad may not have set out to promote e-cigarettes, as a marketer they were responsible under the CAP Code for ensuring that their ads complied, notwithstanding the fact that the ad may have been created solely by the third-party partner without any input from UKVAPINGSTORE.
The CAP Code was breached, and the ad must not appear again in the form investigated; and marketing communications that have the direct or indirect effect of promoting nicotine-containing e-cigarettes and their components that were not licensed medicines should not appear in paid-for Google ads or in other non-permitted media.