ASA Bans Four E-cigarette Ads on TikTok
According to a report from marketingweek on September 13th, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the UK has banned four e-cigarette advertisements that were appearing on the social media platform TikTok. The regulatory body has specific regulations regarding the use of e-cigarette advertisements, stating that any e-cigarette advertisements containing nicotine must have obtained a pharmaceutical license and are not allowed to be published on social media platforms.
According to information revealed, these four products belong to four e-cigarette companies: The Disposable Vape Store, Innofly HK Ltd, Vapes-Bars Ltd, and ZOVOO (Shenzhen). ASA has stated that it has explicitly expressed concerns about the excessive number of e-cigarette advertisements appearing in the market, specifically during the period from March to May this year.
As part of the advertising ban, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has issued enforcement notices to e-cigarette brands, demanding them to cease all advertisements on TikTok. Additionally, the ASA has reported around 300 posts to TikTok that require deletion.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) continues to tighten its scrutiny of e-cigarette advertisements on platforms. The regulatory body has identified certain brands' influencer marketing campaigns and brand ambassador programs, wherein creators on applications are rewarded for promoting the product.
In addition, ASA also held a "priority" roundtable discussion with representatives from social media platforms TikTok, Meta, YouTube, and X (Twitter), where they presented the results of their online monitoring and the measures they have taken to address this issue. The specific time is still unclear.
The release of this news comes at a time when the British government is about to announce a rumored ban on the use of disposable e-cigarettes in the UK. According to foreign media reports, the government deems the primary target audience of these products to be individuals under the age of 18, and thus, the ban could be implemented as early as next week.
John Dunne, General Secretary of the UK e-cigarette industry association, has identified a significant number of grey areas when it comes to addressing harmful marketing practices.
He said, "We already have very strict advertising restrictions, the problem lies in the lack of enforcement of these restrictions."
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