White Claw found guilty of alcohol ad breach
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned two separate alcohol adverts in the UK, one for White Claw and the other featuring DrinkWell Beverages.
The ASA is the UK’s advertising watchdog.
The regulator’s Active Ad Monitoring system, which uses AI to proactively search for online ads that might break the rules, picked up the adverts.
White Claw’s flagged breach came from one of the brand’s UK Instagram highlights, which was labelled ‘Wavemakers’ and featured three stories. The stories were part of White Claw’s ‘Student Wavemaker’ campaign.
All three stories were reposted from other accounts. The first, posted on 24 October 2025, showed a collage of Polaroid-style photos featuring young people holding cans of White Claw.
The second story, posted on 6 November 2025, showed a group of young people wearing fancy dress costumes and holding cans of White Claw.
The third story was posted on 9 November 2025 and showed an overhead photo of people standing in a circle holding cans of White Claw, with only their legs and feet visible.
Stories two and three featured the hashtag #studentwavemaker and tagged the brand. The second story had the additional hashtag #whiteclawwednesdays and the tag @whiteclawuk.
The ASA decided the ads breached the rules because the people involved appeared to be under 25 years old, going against the CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 18.16 (Alcohol).
In response, Mark Anthony Brands, the owner of White Claw, took down the ‘Wavemakers’ highlight and informed its social media team to stop using #studentwavemakers.
DrinkWell Beverages breach
A paid-for Meta ad by DrinkWell UK was also deemed to be in breach of advertising standards.
An advert for the online alcohol retailer, seen in November last year, read: “We’ve cracked the code: full-strength, delicious wine & beers with 70–80% LESS carbohydrates and calories! Don’t compromise on taste or ABV. Make better choices that fit your lifestyle. Tap ‘Learn More’ to discover the future of mindful drinking with DrinkWell.”
The ASA also examined an embedded video, which showed several individuals tasting two beers. The video’s text read: “Beer Testing Lean Brew VS Brewdog Punk IPA” and included imagery of the two beers with text that stated: “LeanBrew IPA 4.1% ABV 99 Cals per can 4g carbs 0g sugar” and “Brewdog Punk IPA 5.4% ABV 160 cals per can 15g carbs 7g sugar”.
Additional text read: “Guilt-Free Wine & Beer? Absolutely”.
The ASA challenged the advert on three points. First, it argued “full strength” implied that a drink was preferred because of its alcohol content.
The second focused on the nutritional claims around carbohydrates and calories, which are not permitted for alcoholic drinks. Similarly, the third point argued that both “Make better choices that fit your lifestyle” and “Guilt-Free Wine & Beer?” are general health claims, which are not permitted for alcoholic drinks.
The only permitted nutrition claims that can be made in relation to alcohol are “low-alcohol”, “reduced alcohol” and “reduced energy”.
In response, DrinkWell Beverages removed the advert and acknowledged it did not comply with the CAP Code.
The advert ran in October and November 2025 with a spend of around £60 (US$80), reaching around 40,000 accounts.
The ASA’s AI technology has previously caught out adverts by Jägermeister.
The regulator also banned Whiskey and Wealth Club adverts in January, ruling that its cask investment advertising did not adequately explain the risks and variables affecting returns.
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