ASA Adjudication on Anheuser-Busch Europe Ltd

Ad

A TV ad for Budweiser showed a man at home opening his fridge and asking another man, who was sitting on a sofa across the room, “Hey, want a Budweiser?” He passed it to him by bouncing it across the floor, saying “Rubber floors. Just had them installed. Now we’ll never break a Bud.” They then bounced more bottles and the TV remote control to each other and to other people in the room. A TV at one end of the room showed a sports programme. A woman then appeared at the front door with a pizza. Their dog jumped down from a chair to greet her but bounced out of the house over her head. One of the men said to another “Too much bounce.”

Issue

A viewer challenged whether the style and content of the ad was likely to appeal to people under 18 years and encourage them to drink alcohol.

BCAP TV Code

Response

Budweiser said the home shown in the ad was large and well-furnished; the home owner was shown to have invested in home improvements and that the participants were seen behaving smartly, calmly and maturely. They believed all of this behaviour was more typical of professionals in their mid to late 20s; that it was unlikely to have strong appeal or relevance to under 18s and was unlikely to be the kind of behaviour they would wish to copy. They believed the ad was "clever" rather than juvenile and that the farcical behaviour and humour did not automatically mean that it would appeal to under 18s. They said the ad did not use personalities, fashion, music or language that was likely to have a strong appeal to the young. They said that, although they recognised acceptability in the USA did not equal acceptability in the UK, they believed it was relevant to state that, although alcohol was subject to stricter restrictions in the USA with a higher minimum legal drinking age of 21, no similar complaints had been made there, despite the ad being aired extensively.

The Broadcasting Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC) said they did not believe the ad would be interpreted as "laddish" humour because it featured a mixed gender group. They believed the absence of current music also made it less likely to appeal to a younger audience. They said the people in the ad were over 25 and appeared to own their home and that the rubber floor was shown to be used for passing various types of object, not just alcohol. They believed the behaviour was mild and that the theme of home improvement was not one associated with youth culture. They did not believe the behaviour shown or the humour used set those under 18 apart from an older age group and saw nothing in the ad that they thought likely to appeal strongly to them.

Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA noted the comments made by the BACC and Budweiser. We acknowledged that the ad had not used current music, personalities, fashion or catch phrases that would be likely to appeal strongly to under 18s. We considered the visual humour used in the ad included the concept of objects bouncing across a room and a pet bouncing out of a door. Although it had an element of slapstick and would have general appeal, it was unlikely to appeal strongly to under 18s.

We investigated the ad under CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rule 11.8.2 (a) (1) (Alcohol advertising - strong appeal to under 18s) but did not find it in breach.

Action

No action necessary.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)