Camden Town Brewery advert banned for 'appealing to children'

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that the television ad could catch the eyes of those under 18, as it features animated characters and a playful tone.

In the advert, seen on May 24 this year, a woman asks for “a pint of the usual” before she is sucked into the beer tap and transported on a fantasy-style brewery tour where she travells in a beer glass along a river of beer.

A character described as a blob-like cartoon figure rises from the beer and announces, “welcome to Camden Town Brewery, yeah!”

Advertising the ‘refreshing Camden beer’, in the background workers can be seen playing and swinging near large tanks of beer, before a polar landscape with an animated polar bear and penguin in high-vis jackets are seen around beer kegs.

It concludes with the voiceover saying, “that’s fresh as hells” and a disembodied cartoon arm giving a thumbs-up sign and the cartoon figure winking.

AB InBev, the owner of Camden Town Brewery, said it believed there was a “very clear adult tone” throughout and said using animated characters should not mean it appeals to under-18s, citing adult cartoons such as Family Guy, South Park and Futurama.

It was argued that inclusion of the animals were not “cute” as the bears had adult elements such as piercings and tattoos and the voice actors were chosen because they did not have childish voices.

A screengrab from the Camden Town Brewery banned advert (Image: Camden Town Brewery)

The regulator acknowledged that the advert had a broadcast restriction to keep it away from audiences under 18, and that “broadly speaking” the setting at a brewery and featuring an adult character helped aim it at a mature audience.

However, the ASA said the colours were bold and striking and that younger viewers were likely to find the imagery engaging.

According to the ASA, the beer guide had soft facial features and could resemble a make-believe character in a children’s book or TV programme.

The ASA concluded: “We therefore considered that its appearance was likely to appeal to under 18s. Furthermore, we considered its behaviour was playful and unpredictable: it uttered exclamations, changed mood suddenly and seemed excited to push the visitor down the river at speed.

“The character reappeared at the end of the ad and engaged with viewers by winking and giving a thumbs-up sign. We considered that the actions of the beer guide character were juvenile and engaging, and therefore added to its appeal to younger viewers.

“For those reasons, we considered that the ad was likely to appeal strongly to people under 18. We therefore concluded it was irresponsible and breached the code.”

As a result, the advert cannot be played again and AB InBev, which has owned the brewery since 2015, has been told to ensure its future ads do not make the same mistakes.

Camden Town Brewery was founded in Camden in 2010 and runs The Horseshoe in Heath Street, with other bars including The Brewery Bar next to the Kentish Town Brewery and Camden’s Daughter in Kentish Town High Street.

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."