Children face ‘blast’ of alcohol plugs online
THE advertising watchdog has been accused of giving the “green light” to alcohol brands to “blast” children with social media promotions following a groundbreaking ruling on an Instagram “influencer”.
Alcohol charities raised the concerns after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) dismissed complaints against the YouTuber Tanya Burr after she advertised a home draught beer pump with Heineken to her three million Instagram followers.
The ASA said it was happy with Heineken’s submission arguing that only a small per cent of Ms Burr’s Instagram audience was under 18, in what is the authority’s first ruling involving social media influencers and alcohol promotions.
However, two alcohol charities have questioned the ruling pointing out that, like most social networks, Instagram has no effective method of age verifying its users. They argued the ruling could open the door to more influencers, who are looked up to by young people, cashing in on promotions with alcohol brands.
Katherine Severi, chief executive at the Institute of Alcohol Studies, said: “At a time when there’s increased concern about our children being subjected to harmful adult content online, the ASA has given the green light for big alcohol companies to blast marketing at under age drinkers.”
Ms Severi’s concerns were echoed by the charity Alcohol Change UK, who said social media alcohol rules needed to be reviewed as influencers carried more weight with young audiences than traditional advertisers.
Ms Burr, 30, rose to prominence as a make-up and fashion vlogger on YouTube and has an audience of almost 10 million followers.
A spokesman for the ASA said: “Our advertising rules seek to limit children’s exposure to alcohol ads. These rules apply across media including online, and to ads by influencers. In the Heineken case, the content of the ad didn’t have particular appeal to under 18s and nine out of every ten audience members were adults.”