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ASA bans Gordon Ramsay gin ad

An Instagram and Facebook post for Gordon Ramsay’s gin, created in partnership with Eden Mill Distillery, was banned after it made a nutritional claim.

Gordon Ramsay gin
Gordon Ramsay created a gin with Eden Mill

Michelin-starred chef Gordon Ramsay partnered with Scottish producer Eden Mill, based in St Andrews, to unveil his first gin last summer.

Ramsay’s Gin was inspired by the rivers, lochs and landscapes of Scotland.

The base of the gin is made with honeyberries, grown six miles from St Andrews, alongside Mara seaweed from the Fife coastline, pink peppercorn, fennel seeds, lavender, and lemon verbena.

In a ruling published today (21 September), the UK’s advertising watchdog the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld a complaint against an Instagram post and Facebook post for Ramsay’s Gin.

The post, published on both channels on 20 March 2022, featured an image of the gin bottle with a caption that focused on its use of honeyberries.

The text said: “Our honeyberries are grown in fields a few miles away from the distillery in Cupar. Here, the farmer follows a philosophy of natural growth meaning the honeyberries retain the rich flavours and micro-nutrients that come from Scotland’s wonderful terroir.

“With more antioxidants than blueberries, more potassium than bananas, more vitamin C than oranges and a flavour like a mixture of blueberry, plum and grape, these might be the tastiest honeyberries in the world.”

The ASA challenged whether the statements that honeyberries retain micro-nutrients and contained ‘more antioxidants than blueberries, more potassium than bananas, more vitamin C than oranges’ were nutrition claims that are prohibited for alcoholic drinks.

The ASA concluded that the antioxidant statement would be understood by consumers as a favourable comparison between the nutrient content of the product and the fruits listed.

It also noted that the gin’s claim to have micro-nutrients would lead customers to think the product has a beneficial nutritional property.

As such, the ASA ruled that the ads must not appear again in that form.

In response, Eden Mill Distillery said the ads had been posted only once, had been deleted and would not be used again.

Furthermore, the producer noted that at the time of the posts the business was undergoing ‘significant change’, which resulted in the ads not being caught by their usual due diligence.

In March, Eden Mill received planning permission to build a new carbon-neutral distillery and visitor centre at the University of St Andrews in Fife.

Ramsay demonstrated an interest in the drinks industry with the creation of his first hard seltzer in December 2020, called Hell’s Seltzer.

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