Background
This ruling forms part of a wider piece of work on alcohol ads.
The ad was identified for investigation following intelligence gathered by our Active Ad Monitoring system, which uses AI to proactively search for online ads that might break the rules.
Summary of Council decision:
Three issues were investigated, all of which were Upheld.
Ad description
A paid-for Meta ad for DrinkWell UK, an online alcohol retailer, seen in November 2025, stated, “We’ve cracked the code: full-strength, delicious wine & beers with 70–80% LESS carbohydrates and calories!”.
Further text stated, “Don’t compromise on taste or ABV. Make better choices that fit your lifestyle. Tap ‘Learn More’ to discover the future of mindful drinking with DrinkWell”.
An embedded video showed several individuals taste testing two different beers. On-screen text stated, “Beer Testing Lean Brew VS Brewdog Punk IPA” and included imagery of the two beers with text that stated, “LeanBrew IPA 4.1%ABV 99 Cals per can 4g carbs 0g sugar” and “Brewdog Punk IPA 5.4% ABV 160 cals per can 15g carbs 7g sugar”.
The ad included a button labelled “Learn more” and link to the DrinkWell Uk website, with text that stated, “Guilt-Free Wine & Beer? Absolutely!”.
Issue
The ASA challenged whether the claims:
- “full strength” implied that a drink was preferred because of its alcohol content;
- “full strength, delicious […] wine & beers with 70-80% less carbohydrates and calories” were nutritional claims that was not permitted for alcoholic drinks; and
- “Don’t compromise on taste or ABV. Make better choices that fit your lifestyle” and “Guilt-Free Wine & Beer? Absolutely!” were general health claims that were not permitted for alcoholic drinks.
Response
1., 2. & 3.
DrinkWell Beverages Ltd said the ad ran in October and November 2025, with around £60 spend and a reach of about 40,000 accounts. They said that the ad had since been removed and acknowledged that the content had not complied with the CAP Code.
They highlighted that they reminded their external agency of their compliance requirements and put additional checks in place to help ensure future ads were appropriately reviewed.
Assessment
1. Upheld
The CAP Code stated that marketing communications may give factual information about the alcoholic strength of a drink. However, they must not imply that a drink might be preferred because of its alcohol content or intoxicating effect.
The ASA considered that consumers were likely to understand that lower-calorie alcoholic drinks were often lower in strength. Within that context, we considered consumers were likely to interpret the claim, “We’ve cracked the code: […] full-strength […] with 70–80% LESS carbohydrates and calories!” to mean that DrinkWell had solved that recognised trade-off, and that their products offered reduced calories and carbohydrates without reducing alcohol strength. We considered that impression was reinforced by the statements “Don’t compromise on taste or ABV” which implied consumers would not need to compromise on alcohol strength with their products.
We considered those claims presented the retention of standard alcohol strength as a positive feature of the products, and as part of what made them a preferable option for consumers seeking lower-calorie or lower-carbohydrate alcoholic drinks. We therefore considered the ad encouraged consumers to choose the products because they could obtain those perceived benefits without giving up Alcohol by Volume (ABV).
We welcomed Drinkwell’s willingness to remove the ad. However, because the ad went beyond giving factual information about ABV and implied their products might be preferred because of their alcohol content, we concluded the ad breached the Code.
On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 18.9 (Alcohol).
2. Upheld
The CAP Code required that only nutrition claims authorised on the Great Britain Nutrition and Health Claims register were permitted in marketing communications. It defined a nutrition claim as any claim which stated, suggested or implied that a food (or drink) had particular beneficial nutritional properties due to the amount of calories, nutrients or other substances it contained, did not contain, or contained in reduced or increased proportions. The CAP Code further required that the only permitted nutrition claims that could be made in relation to alcohol were “low-alcohol”, “reduced alcohol” and “reduced energy”. It also required that nutrition claims could only be used in relation to products that met the conditions of use associated with a nutrition claim.
We considered that the claim “full-strength, delicious wine and beers with 70–80% less carbohydrates and calories!” would be understood by consumers to mean that the advertised wine and beers had beneficial nutritional properties because they contained substantially fewer carbohydrates and calories than other full-strength alcoholic products. Those were therefore nutrition claims for the purposes of the Code.
Under the CAP Code there were no permitted nutrition claims for alcohol relating to carbohydrate content and therefore the claim “70–80% less carbohydrates” was not permitted in any circumstances.
We also considered the reference to “70–80% less […] calories” and noted that it was presented as a broad statement applying across a range of the advertiser’s wine and beer products. We considered this meant it was presented as a general claim, rather than as a specific, clearly defined comparison relating to the energy reduction of an individual product. Whilst we acknowledged that the embedded video compared a specific product directly against another full-strength beer, including a table of nutritional information, we considered that did not clarify that the “70–80% less” claim related only to that specific product comparison. Instead, we considered the overall presentation was likely to be understood as referencing a general nutritional benefit of reduced calories advantage across the advertiser’s products, which was not permitted.
For those reasons, we concluded that the claim “70–80% less carbohydrates and calories” was not a permitted nutrition claim and breached the Code.
On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 15.1 and 15.1.1 (Food, food supplements and associated health or nutrition claims) and 18.17 (Alcohol).
3. Upheld
The CAP Code stated that ads for alcoholic drinks could give factual information about product contents, including comparisons, but must not make any health, fitness or weight-control claims. Health claims were defined as those that stated, suggested or implied that a relationship existed between a food or drink or one of its constituents and health. That included references to general benefits of a food or drink for overall good health or health-related well-being.
We considered that the claims, “Don’t compromise on taste or ABV. Make better choices that fit your lifestyle” and “Guilt-Free Wine & Beer? Absolutely!” would be understood by consumers to mean that the advertised alcoholic drinks were a “better” or healthier option than other alcoholic drinks, and that choosing them could help consumers avoid the negative health and lifestyle consequences commonly associated with alcohol consumption. We considered the reference to consuming the products “guilt-free” further reinforced the impression that they could be consumed as part of a healthy lifestyle. We also considered that the ad’s emphasis on reduced calories and carbohydrates strengthened the overall impression that the product were compatible with a healthier lifestyle choice.
Because such health claims were not permitted for alcoholic drinks, we concluded that the ad breached the Code.
On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 15.2 (food, food supplements and associated health or nutrition claims) and 18.17 (Alcohol).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told DrinkWell Beverages Ltd not to imply that a drink may be preferred because of its alcohol content and not to make health or non-permitted nutrition claims about alcoholic drinks.
