Geordie Shore star Louis Shaw has been rapped by the advertising watchdog for promoting unlicensed e-cigarettes containing nicotine on his Instagram page. He also breached standards by not declaring that his post promoting them was an advert.
His Instagram story on 20 December last year showed a hand with two boxes of e-cigarettes surrounded by text saying “@RELXUK” and “GET YOUR OWN – RELAX WITH 15% OFF – LOUISXMAS15”. The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled it cannot appear in the same form again after someone complained it did not make clear it was an advert.
The watchdog itself also challenged whether the advert promoted unlicensed e-cigarettes containing nicotine on the picture-sharing site. The watchdog said adverts must be “obviously identifiable” and must make it clear they are adverts if this is not obvious from the outset.
It also said adverts for non-licensed e-cigarettes which contain nicotine are banned from appearing online as well as in newspapers and magazines. It found the while the ad contained a discount code, it still broke rules because it did not obviously say it was an ad with a hashtag such as #ad, which is often used by influencers promoting brands.
The advert breached rules on recognition of marketing communications and online media. The packets contained the brand name RELX and the text “this product contains nicotine which is a highly addictive substance” on each of them.
The 15 per cent discount code for the product which was “clearly promotional”, according to the watchdog. Relx (UK) Ltd (Relx) said the Instagram story was user-generated content, designed and posted by Louis Shaw which was not shared with or approved by the company before he posted it.
It said the discount code was a referral reward given to Mr Shaw to share with his online and offline friends who were “existing adult smokers and vapers”. The star then used it in his Instagram story to reach more of his friends, according to the company.
The use of the code did not result in any payment or commission from Relx to Mr Shaw. Louis Shaw said the issues would not arise again.
The watchdog said in its ruling: “The CAP Code stated that marketing communications must be obviously identifiable as such and they must make clear their commercial content if it was not obvious from the context. “The ASA first assessed whether or not the story was a marketing communication and if it fell within the remit of the CAP Code.
“Although we noted Relx said there was no payment to Louis Shaw and that the code was given to him to refer friends, both online and offline, it remained the case that the ad featured a discount code. As Louis Shaw had shared it with his followers, of which there were many, it would follow that they would be likely to use that discount to purchase products from the brand, which would benefit financially.
“We also noted that Relx ran an affiliate programme and understood that Louis Shaw would have been gifted the product. As an affiliate, Mr Shaw had a contractual relationship with Relx, and stories posted under that relationship fell within the remit of the CAP Code.
“We considered Relx and Louis Shaw were therefore jointly responsible for ensuring marketing activity conducted on Mr Shaw’s account promoting Relx was compliant with the CAP Code. We next considered whether the story was obviously identifiable as a marketing communication and made clear its commercial content.
“We noted that the story had appeared in Louis Shaw’s own account. There was commercial intent behind the story. Although some followers might associate the inclusion of a discount code with advertising, there was no clear statement that the story was a marketing communication.
“We welcomed the assurances from both Relx and Mr Shaw that similar stories in future would include a label such as #ad. Nevertheless, we concluded that the commercial intent behind the story was not made clear upfront and that it was not obviously identifiable as a marketing communication; it therefore breached the Code.
“The ad featured prominently an image of two packages containing unlicensed e-cigarettes with the brand name RELX and the text “this product contains nicotine which is a highly addictive substance” shown on each of them, as well as a 15 per cent discount code for the product, which we considered was clearly promotional.
“We considered therefore that the ad contained promotional and factual content for the products. Because the ad had the direct or indirect effect of promoting e-cigarettes which were not licensed as medicines in non-permitted media, we concluded that it breached the Code.
“The ad must not appear again in the form complained of.”
It said adverts for nicotine-containing e-cigarettes should not be made from a public Instagram in future unless it was clear they would only be seen by the person’s followers. It also told them to use a label such as “#ad” to make the purpose of the post clear.
