Camden Town Brewery advert banned for 'appealing to children'

A television advert for Camden Town Brewery has been banned over concerns it could appeal to children.

An unnamed complainant told the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) their young children had found the beer advert engaging and challenged whether it was likely to appeal to people under 18 years of age.

The advert featured animated characters in a pub and saw a woman sucked into a beer tap and transported on a fantasy-style brewery tour, where she travelled along a river of beer in a pint glass.

A blob-like cartoon figure propelled the excited woman along and the background showed a polar landscape with an animated polar bear and penguin in high-vis jackets.

The final scene saw the blob-like figure next to a range of the beer products, while a voiceover said: “That’s fresh as hells”.

AB InBev, the owner of Camden Town Brewery, said the use of animated characters did not mean it would appeal to children and cited cartoons such as Family Guy and South Park which are aimed at an adult audience.

It argued that the pub setting would be unfamiliar to under-18s and the penguins and polar bears were not “cute” as the the bears featured piercings, tattoos and exposed claws.

However, the ASA has told AB InBev the advert must not appear again in its current form.

It said the blob-like character was “juvenile and engaging” and resembled a “make-believe character in a children’s book or TV programme”.

“While we acknowledged that [some] elements were adult-oriented and would not necessarily be familiar or attractive to under-18s, we considered that other aspects of the ad were more playful and child-like,” the ASA said in its ruling.

“The colours were bold and striking, notably the bright red of the bar, the yellow and orange of the beer river and the bright wall of neon signs. We considered that younger viewers were likely to find that imagery engaging.

“The character was dragged through a beer pipe and taken on a journey through a fantastical-looking world with surreal background characters and a beer river. We considered that those features would be seen as fun and engaging, and likely to appeal to a younger audience.”

AB InBev has been told to ensure its future adverts do not appeal to people aged under 18 years of age.

A spokesperson from Camden Town Brewery said: “We take our role as responsible marketers very seriously, and always seek to ensure that our communications are directed only to those above the legal drinking age and are carried out in a socially responsible manner.”

Camden Town Brewery was founded by Jasper Cuppaidge and started full production in 2010. It was acquired by drinks giant AB InBev, which is behind brands including Corona and Budweiser, in 2016.

*Image: Camden Town Brewery / YouTube *