Watchdog blasts British American Tobacco’s Lily Allen Instagram vaping posts
British American Tobacco (BAT) is one of four vaping companies to have their Instagram posts banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
The posts saw celebrities like Lily Allen promoting e-cigarettes, something that is banned on social media.
Read more: Watchdog puts BAT in sights as it weighs clampdown on e-cigs
Posts including BAT nicotine products can no longer be made from public Instagram accounts unless BAT can ensure they would only be seen by followers of the tobacco giant.
Health groups had complained about seven BAT Instagram posts featuring BAT’s vaping product, Vype.
Three of these showed actor Lily Allen holding the e-cigarette and one featured Love Island star Olivia Jade Attwood.
BAT said it had ensured that users who saw posts about Vype did so because they had previously expressed an interest in e-cigarettes or the brand.
But the ASA ruled that the use of hashtags and Instagram’s Explore tab meant people who were not looking for vaping products could see the posts.
The watchdog rejected a complaint that the posts had deliberately targeted people aged under 18.
Group head of corporate affairs for the company, Simon Cleverly, said: “We will abide by the ASA’s decision and recommendation to remove the relevant posts and amend our Instagram account settings.
“We are pleased that in its ruling, the ASA acknowledged the significant effort we undertake to ensure our content is targeted at adult consumers only.”
Read more: Vype poster banned by ASA
The ruling stated: “Marketing communications with the direct or indirect effect of promoting nicotine-containing e-cigarettes and their components which were not licensed as medicines should not be made from a public Instagram account in future.”
The ASA released nine upheld or partially upheld complaints today, four included e-cigarette companies using people who seem to be under 25 in their promotional material.