Luminar lodges appeal against ASA decision

The ASA had said the Luminar Group, based in Milton Keynes, must not use the same advert in its current form and urged it to ensure its adverts were not directed at people under 18.

However the Luminar Group said it took great care to ensure their databases for under 18-year-olds and over 18s were kept separate from each other.

Tim Howard, head of marketing for the Luminar Group, said: "We do not, under any circumstances, promote alcohol or club events to minors. It would appear that a minor’s name was incorrectly added to the electoral register and, as a result, promotional material was distributed in error and we would like to apologise for any offence caused.

"In our defence, the data was sourced from one of the country’s largest and most reputable companies, who have robust checks in place. We have obviously raised this with Experian who are investigating."

Complaint​

The complaint came in from a mum after one of Luminar’s clubs, the Kuda Bar & Club in York, directly mailed her 12-year-old child promoting deals on alcohol. The mailing showed images of two bottles of Moet champagne in an ice bucket with two glasses and two bottles of Smirnoff vodka. Inside the mailing a heading stated ‘CHOOSE YOUR PACKAGE’ and listed four options available for the recipient.

These were a free bottle of bubbly minimum of six people, a free bottle of Smirnoff and mixer minimum of ten people, a free bottle of Moet minimum of ten people and a free bottle of Grey Goose.

On the back of the mailing was the recipient’s name and address, and at the bottom of the page it stated ‘Usual club age and dress rules apply, Photographic ID may be required...’.

ASA Ruling​

When the ASA upheld the complaint it said: "Although the understood that restrictions were in place to prevent the mailing being sent to under 18s, we nevertheless noted that errors could occur and were concerned that the mailing offered alcohol to the ASA recipient and his friends. We noted that Kuda Bar had an age policy and that the mailing stated ‘Usual club age and dress rules apply, Photographic ID may be required’ but that, nevertheless, the mailing had promoted alcohol to someone under 18. Because of that, we concluded that it breached the Code."

The code it refers to is the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) Code, which writes and maintains the UK Advertising Codes, administered by the ASA. The ASA said The Luminar Group broke the code on two rules, one for responsible advertising and one for alcohol.