ASA backtracks over banned Kronenbourg 1664 ad
The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has backtracked on a previous ruling, which saw a Heineken UK for Kronenbourg banned after viewers complained it was misleading.
Eric Cantona features in the TV campaign
In February the ASA ruled that both press and TV ads for the drink were ‘misleading’ as they implied that Kronenbourg 1664 was brewed in France, and that the hops used in the recipe were grown in France, which was not the case.
The campaign, which featured footballer Eric Cantona, focussed heavily on the French origins of the drink, stating: “If you find a better tasting French Beer, we’ll eat our hats.”
Heineken submitted a request to the ASA for the ruling to be reconsidered earlier this year.
After reviewing the case, the ASA has ruled that the ad made it clear to viewers that the beer was actually brewed in the UK and that the Strisselspalt hops used in Kronenbourg 1664 were sourced from Alsace, France.
Jacco van der Linden, UK Marketing director, Heineken commented on the decision: "We are delighted that our advertising has finally been judged to be fully compliant with the CAP/BCAP codes and that there is no longer any suggestion that we could mislead consumers. Whilst we fully recognise and support the complaints process operated by the ASA as a hugely important part of effective self regulation, in this particular case, we felt very strongly that the decision to rule against us was simply wrong and would set some unintended precedents for future advertising."
The ban has been lifted and no further action was necessary.