ASA rejects complaints against Bud Light

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received two complaints about the beer brand targeting under-18s in its marketing.

The two issues, which included a TV ad and a paid-for tweet were investigated by the ASA but were not upheld.

The TV ad, seen on 13 May this year, featured three animated frogs repeating the words “Bud” “Light” and “Beer”.

Irresponsible advertising

The shot then panned to show a bar with the illuminated sign “Bud Light” followed by on-screen text, which read “now in the UK”.

The paid-for tweet, seen on 10 May this year, said “Look who’s hopped into town #BudLightBeer crank up the sound” and featured the TV ad embedded with a prominent play button.

One of the two complaints the ASA received challenged whether the TV ad was irresponsible because it had strong appeal to under 18s.

The other complaint challenged whether the paid-for tweet was irresponsible because it was of particular appeal to under 18s.

Pleased with the decision

In its ruling, the ASA said the frog’s croak in the TV advert were not anthropomorphised but were animated to appear realistic and, therefore, would not strongly appeal to children and it considered the overall tone of the advert was adult.

With the tweet, the watchdog said that the Bud Light Beer Twitter page had an age gate and the tweet itself was targeted at those over 21 and, therefore, was not irresponsible.

A spokesperson for AB InBev said: “As a founding member of the Portman Group and a key funder of the Drinkaware Trust, we are committed to advertising and marketing our beers responsibly.

“We co-operated fully with the ASA throughout its investigation of two complaints and are pleased with today’s decision that they have not been upheld.”