Yates's leaflet promoting theme night banned by ad watchdog

17th November 2010, 11:07am

Yates's, which is owned by the Town and City pub company, has had promotional material for a weekend event banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

The advert appeared in two forms – a leaflet and a poster. 

The leaflet, which was promoting a 'Back to School' theme night, featured a cartoon woman wearing a school uniform with text underneath that read "JAGER BOMB AND VOD BOMB £2.95 ONLY". Details of the Drinkaware website were also featured.

One complaint was made by a member of the public and they challenged whether or not the advert would encourage underage drinking.

The ASA decided that the leaflet should not appear again in its current form because it was distributed outside of the premises.

In a statement it explained: "We noted Yates's had said that staff were instructed to distribute leaflets only to those over 18 years of age. However, as the leaflets had been distributed in the immediate vicinity of their bars, which we understood to mean outside the actual premises, we considered it would be likely that under-18s would be able to gain access to discarded leaflets even if staff had taken care to ensure that they were only passed directly to over-18s. We considered that the style of illustration would appeal to under-18s generally…"

The poster versions were cleared because they had only been displayed in and around the bar areas inside Yates's, where service was only offered to over-18s.

"We considered that it was unlikely that under-18s would have seen them and they were therefore unlikely to encourage underage drinking," said the ASA.

Yates's responded saying that it takes any complaint or criticism of its advertising "extremely seriously and operated strict internal controls on the marketing of their promotions".

The pub company added that it aims to ensure that alcohol is retailed responsibly and reiterated that the business does not appeal to underage drinkers.

Related Articles:

• 20 Jan 2011 - Regular helps local publican win national pie-making competition
• 05 Nov 2010 - Pub operator Yates's supports Royal British Legion
• 09 Aug 2010 - Town and City Pub Company promotes second GM to AM
• 04 Aug 2010 - Town and City Pub Company “delighted with terrific financial performance”
• 22 Jun 2010 - Pub operator Yates's launches new website
• 06 May 2010 - Town and City Pub Company announces World Cup promotion details
• 26 Mar 2010 - Town and City Pub Company introduces Sky Sports 3D
• 19 Mar 2010 - Yates’s pubco steams ahead with two new refurbishments in March
• 15 Mar 2010 - Yates’s wins Great British Pub Food Award
• 10 Nov 2009 - Yates's launches low price breakfast offer
• 25 Feb 2009 - Restaurant chains need to work harder

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