ASA Rap IVG Vape Ad

The Advertising Standards Authority states: “The cinema ad began with on-screen text that said, ‘Every year, more than 8 million people die from tobacco use – World Health Organisation (WHO)’. 

“Vape products were then shown with the text ‘Our aim is to help tobacco users make the switch IVG’. 

“Further text then said, ‘E-cigarettes are around 95% less harmful than smoking – Public Health England (PHE)’. 

“Further vape products were shown and on-screen text stated, ‘We are the adult smoking alternative’. 

“The ad ended with a shot of three IVG vape products and the text ‘IVG Award Winning British Brand’. Text at the bottom of the screen that ran for the duration of the ad said, ‘This product contains nicotine which is a highly addictive substance. 18+ only’.”

The LinkedIn post stated: “Exciting news. We're thrilled to announce that our latest advert will be hitting the big screens across Vue, Odeon, and Cineworld cinemas across the UK! You can catch our ad right before the highly anticipated Deadpool and Wolverine film. Don't miss it!” 

A video under the text had the same content as the cinema advert.

A complaint was made by a single “freelance public health researcher”, who challenged if the claim “95% less harmful than smoking” was misleading and could be substantiated; and if the advert had been targeted at under-18s.

The Advertising Standards Authority also challenged whether advert promoted e-cigarettes on IVG Vape’s LinkedIn page. 

ACME Vape Ltd (trading as IVG Vapes) told the Advertising Standards Authority that the claim “95% less harmful than smoking” was a direct quote from Public Health England – therefore the claim couldn’t be misleading as it comes from a government report easily accessible to the public online.

IVG Vapes also explained that they were advised by two cinema advertising companies where best to place the ad, taking into account the restrictions on advertising within the vaping sector. It had not been indicated that placing the ad before Deadpool & Wolverine would mean that it was directed at people under 18.

The CAA said the ad was restricted so that it could not be shown before any films with a national audience profile of 25% or more under 18s. The film was not deemed of youth appeal due to its 15 certificate. They had also used independent statistics to create a predictive national audience profile for Deadpool & Wolverine, and the audience statistics showed that only 3% of viewers were in the 15 to 17 age group.

IVG Vapes told the Advertising Standards Authority that the LinkedIn post was published as an organic post to their professional network as an update on their marketing activities. It was therefore not a sales message.

The Advertising Standards Authority ridiculously upheld the complaint about relative harm.

It stated: “The CAP Code stated before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation.

“Ad (a), which was not subject to the media prohibitions under CAP Code rule 22.12, stated, “E-cigarettes are around 95% less harmful than smoking – Public Health England (PHE)”. While PHE had been disbanded in 2021, we acknowledged that the claim had come from a publicly accessible PHE report from 2015 and understood that the statement had not been withdrawn or rescinded. However, we considered that consumers were likely to interpret the claim to mean that by using IVG Vapes’ e-cigarettes, existing smokers could improve their overall health, and therefore it was an implied health claim relating to IVG Vapes’ products.

“While we noted that the ad displayed individual e-cigarette products, it did so without focusing on particular items or providing item-specific information. The ad also briefly featured a wide range of products in one shot, without making clear what the individual products were, and made references to the brand in general. We therefore considered that the ad was likely to be interpreted as promoting the IVG Vapes range in general, rather than individual vapes. For that reason, evidence to support the claim that the products were 95% less harmful than smoking should be based on IVG Vapes’ entire range.”

It concluded: “We had not seen any evidence that showed IVG Vapes’ products, individually or as a range, were 95% less harmful than smoking, and we therefore concluded that the claim was misleading.”

The Advertising Standards Authority did not uphold the second complaint although it said the LinkedIn post constituted the promotion of vaping!

It stated: “The ad must not appear again in the form complained of. We told ACME Vape Ltd t/a IVG Vapes to ensure they did not make health claims for their products, unless they could substantiate them. We also told them to ensure marketing communications that had the direct or indirect effect of promoting nicotine-containing e-cigarettes that were not licensed as medicine were not placed in unpermitted media.”

From this judgement, it is clear that the current code and the Advertising Standards Authority are not fit for purpose and pose a health risk to the public.

Dave Cross

Journalist at POTV

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Dave 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.