Concern over Bulmers cider promotion dismissed by the ASA

Alcohol Concern argued that the online competition, which asked consumers to send in photos of bottles of the Heineken-owned cider brand to win a personalised pair of Converse trainers, was associated with ‘youth culture.’

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However, the ASA ruled that Converse trainers ‘had a broad appeal to people of a range of ages’ and noted that a survey conducted by Bulmers had shown that over 90% of respondents who were interested in Converse trainers were over 18.

It added: “We also understood that although the web page was accessible to anyone viewing the Bulmers website (provided they confirmed they were over 18), it was likely to have been accessed predominantly by people who had purchased Bulmers cider after seeing the on-pack sales promotion in store. We noted that entering the competition was conditional on submitting a photograph of an open bottle of Bulmers, which should not have been purchased by under 18s. We consider that the competition web page was likely to be of appeal of and predominately visited by over-18s.

“Given the prize and the steps taken to limit the access to the competition to over-18’s, we concluded that the competition was not likely to be of particular appeal to people under 18.”