With Christmas fast approaching, festive campaigns are everywhere. At this time of year, consumers can feel under pressure to spend, and advertisers should take care to ensure their ads are socially responsible and don’t encourage people to go beyond their means. 

Don’t encourage irresponsible spending

CAP Code rule 1.3 requires that marketing communications are prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and society. 

The ASA previously investigated ads that were found to encourage excessive spending through credit. For example, claims such as “Cherish every moment of the holidays, without fretting over your budget, by taking advantage of an affordable loan” and “Save the Christmas Stress with a PCCU Christmas Loan” were ruled irresponsible and in breach of rule 1.3. 

With the rising cost of living and the financial strain many people feel at Christmas, advertisers promoting borrowing options should take particular care not to encourage excessive spending or trivialise the risks of credit. 

Avoid applying pressure to buy 

The ASA has upheld complaints about ads that played on parental anxieties or pressured consumers to buy expensive branded goods using credit. One ad featured a mother whose child wanted branded trainers for school, implying that credit was the solution to avoid social embarrassment. Another ad encouraged the use of BNPL (Buy Now, Pay Later) services to upgrade gifts to luxury items, such as TVs and gaming consoles, portraying disappointment with cheaper gifts. 

These approaches were considered socially irresponsible and in breach of the Code. Marketers should bear in mind that Christmas potentially encapsulates financial anxiety for some consumers, and they should not take advantage of those anxieties.

Budgeting matters 

Ads should not make light of using credit or downplay the importance of budgeting. Recently, several social media posts breached the Code because they encouraged consumers to use BNPL for non-essential items they couldn’t afford, often through memes that joked about ignoring budgets or lacking self-control. 

Need advice? 

If you’d like bespoke advice on your non-broadcast advertising, Christmas themed or not, our Copy Advice team is here to help. 

---

More on

• Financial products and services
• Children and the vulnerable
• Harm/Irresponsibility
• Harmful
• Packaging and point of sale
• Online, catch-up TV and radio, in-app and in-game
• Mailings, email, phone/fax and messaging
• Cinema
• TV and radio (broadcast only)
• Poster and other out of home
• Newspapers, magazines and printed materials

---