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ASA bans Bowmore and Aston Martin ad

A Facebook post by Scotch distillery Bowmore in collaboration with Aston Martin has been banned by the UK’s advertising watchdog after it was accused of linking alcohol and driving.

Aston Martin
Bowmore’s immersive experience allows guests to tour its Islay base in a bespoke Aston Martin DBX

The advert was used to highlight the distillery’s partnership with the luxury car brand as part of its chauffeur-driven experience, ‘Captivating Islay‘.

It was posted on Facebook on 9 May 2024 and featured a video of a man and woman driving around the Scottish island, visiting various points of interest, as well as the distillery itself. In one scene an image of Bowmore Distillery was featured, and in another, the whisky was shown being poured into a bottle with the characters smelling the liquid, and then potentially tasting it.

A complaint was issued by an unnamed whisky researcher and writer to the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) on whether the post linked alcohol and driving, and therefore could be deemed as irresponsible.

In their defence, Suntory Global Spirits UK (owner of Bowmore) and Aston Martin claimed there was no ‘direct link between drinking alcohol and driving in the ad’. Instead, they challenged that there were no scenes with alcohol that were chronologically linked to those that featured the vehicle and driving, and also that any ‘reasonable viewer’ would understand that those activities occurred at separate times.

Of the scene where the characters smelt the whisky – they were not shown to have tasted it, even if this could have been inferred by viewers. It was a ‘deliberate creative decision’ to not show the characters drinking the whisky, the companies said. In addition, the video took place over multiple days and the characters were seen wearing different outfits in their driving scenes to what they wore on their distillery visit.

Aston Martin and Bowmore believed they made it clear that there was nothing to suggest that driving had taken place after whisky had been consumed. Furthermore, they argued that alcohol was not seen inside the car ‘at any point’ or alongside car keys, unlike some other ads which had previously been investigated and upheld by the ASA.

Upheld ruling

In a ruling published yesterday (16 October), the ASA upheld the complaint for breaching its CAP Code.

In its assessment, the ASA pointed to the CAP Code, which stated that ‘marketing communications that referred to alcoholic drinks must be socially responsible and that they must not link alcohol with driving’.

It considered the ad implied that the characters were going to taste the whisky after appraising it, even if it did not expressly show them driving after consuming alcohol. As driving plays a strong part in the ad and scenes were not shown in linear sequence – and also jumped quickly between scenes – it was not clear that no driving had taken place after the distillery visit part of the experience when it was inferred that whisky was consumed. There was also no clear separation between the driving and the part where whisky was poured and appraised, the ASA found.

As such, ASA concluded that there was an indication that the characters were going to drink the whisky, and that the ad linked alcohol with driving and was irresponsible.

Following the investigation, Facebook has since confirmed that the content is no longer available in the UK and the ad has been removed.

ASA ruled that the ad must not appear again in the form complained of. It informed the two companies that they must ensure future ads do not irresponsibly link alcohol with driving.

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