Ad Rule Breach
The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled against Geordie Shore star Louis Shaw and vape brand Relx for a promotion on Instagram
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by Dave Cross
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Complaints were made to the Advertising Standards Authority following an Instagram story appearing on Geordie Shore star Louis Shaw’s account on 20 December 2021. The advert showed him holding two boxes of Relx e-cigarettes and the accompanying text stated “@RELXUK” and “GET YOUR OWN – RELAX WITH 15% OFF – LOUISXMAS15”.
Louis Shaw challenged whether his advert made it clear that it was a promotion with clear commercial intent. The Advertising Standards Authority “challenged whether the ad breached the Code by promoting unlicensed, nicotine-containing e-cigarettes and their components on Instagram.”
Relx (UK) Ltd responded to the investigation by saying that “the Instagram story was user-generated content, designed and posted by Louis Shaw and not shared with or approved by Relx before he posted it. They said the discount code used in the ad was a referral reward that was given to any customer and was given to Mr Shaw to share with his online and offline friends who were existing adult smokers and vapers. Mr Shaw then used it in his Instagram story to reach more of his friends. The use of the code did not result in any payment or commission from Relx to Mr Shaw.”
Louis Shaw told the Advertising Standards Authority that the issues would not arise again.
The Advertising Standards Authority said: “We first assessed whether or not the story was a marketing communication and if it fell within the remit of the CAP Code. Although we noted Relx said there was no payment to Louis Shaw and that the code was given to him to refer friends, both online and offline, it remained the case that the ad featured a discount code. As Louis Shaw had shared it with his followers, of which there were many, it would follow that they would be likely to use that discount to purchase products from the brand, which would benefit financially.
“We also noted that Relx ran an affiliate programme and understood that Louis Shaw would have been gifted the product. As an affiliate, Mr Shaw had a contractual relationship with Relx, and stories posted under that relationship fell within the remit of the CAP Code. We considered Relx and Louis Shaw were therefore jointly responsible for ensuring marketing activity conducted on Mr Shaw’s account promoting Relx was compliant with the CAP Code.”
The Advertising Standards Authority concluded that the commercial intent behind the story was not made clear upfront and that it was not obviously identifiable as a marketing communication; it therefore breached the Code.
References:
- The Advertising Standards Authority - https://www.asa.org.uk
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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