William Grant advertising complaint dismissed

A complaint against William Grant and Sons claiming a Christmas advert for its Warninks Advocaat implied drinking alcohol was crucial for a successful social event has not been upheld.

The ASA has dismissed a complaint against William Grant claiming its ad for Warninks Advocaat was “irresponsible”

Alcohol concern reported a poster displayed at a bus stop to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), stating it was irresponsible for promoting: “Without Warninks Advocaat it just wouldn’t be Christmas.”

However, William Grant and Sons argued they did not think the advert had breached either the spirit or the letter of the Code, and that the message they were trying to communicate to consumers was that Warninks was on aspect of a traditional Christmas.

Furthermore, they said the strapline had been used for years without any complaints and had also submitted the advert to the CAP Copy Advice Team, who concluded it was unlikely to breach the CAP code.

The complaint was not upheld by the ASA, who said in the report: “We considered that ‘Christmas’ was likely to be interpreted, in the context of the ad, as a reference to the season, rather than to a specific occasion.

“We considered that consumers would interpret the claim ‘it just wouldn’t be Christmas’ as suggesting that the product was traditionally associated with the Christmas period, rather than the reason for its success.

“We noted the ad did not make any references to excessive drinking, and there was no suggestion that a party or specific social occasion would be a success as a result of drinking alcohol, or that the product played a major part in socialising.

“We investigated the ad under the CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 1.3 (Responsible advertising) and 18.3 (Alcohol), but did not find it in breach.”