Several pubs and nightclubs across England and Scotland have been cautioned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after their promotional materials were found to have encouraged irresponsible and excessive drinking.
One Edinburgh nightclub, The Hive was made to remove three Instagram posts and one Facebook post which included text reading “Not only do I dance like nobody is watching, I also drink as if I don’t work in the morning,” and “Drinks from £1.”
The establishment accepted that the ads were irresponsible and willingly took down the posts, responding: “We acknowledged that the ads were intended to be light-hearted.
“However, we considered they nonetheless condoned and encouraged excessive drinking and therefore were socially irresponsible and breached the Code.”
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Lulu, another Edinburgh nightclub was found to have breached the code with a TikTok post which showed women having spirits poured directly from the bottle into their mouths. The ASA added that some of the actors used appeared to clearly be under 25.
An Instagram post by Popworld in Leeds was also considered in breach after it featured text reading ““When your pal hands you another shot and you’re not sure you can handle it but you take it anyway…”
The establishment recognised that the post “possibly breached the Code” and confirmed that it had been removed from its social media channels, amidst a wider review of its online advertising.
