Wells & Youngs 'broke rules' on advert

Published: 12 November, 2008

Brewing company Wells & Youngs has had one of its ads banned by an advertising watchdog after falsely claiming that two of its flavoured beers were the country's top performing.

Brewing company Wells & Youngs has had one of its ads banned by an advertising watchdog after falsely claiming that two of its flavoured beers were the country's top performing.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned the ad after rival brewer Hall and Woodhouse pointed out that two of their own flavoured beers actually performed better during the period specified in Wells & Youngs's ad.

Wells & Youngs had claimed in a trade print ad that their Banana Bread Beer and honey flavoured Waggle Dance beer were the "No 1 & No 2 flavoured premium bottled ales" in the off-trade between January and April, based on official figures.

Hall & Woodhouse, whose own Golden Champion and Golden Glory beers actually sold better, complained about the "misleading" ad to the ASA.

Wells & Youngs have been forced to admit that Golden Champion and Golden Glory beers did sell better in the period, after failing to argue that they were marketed predominantly as golden, rather than flavoured beers, and that the two different segmentations were "generally accepted" by retailers.

The ASA pointed out that Golden Champion and Golden Glory were described as premium ales flavoured with elderflower and with peach and melon.

The ASA said: "While we acknowledged that Wells & Youngs considered their competitor's products were marketed predominantly as "golden" beers and not flavoured beers, Wells & Youngs's website also referred to their own product, Waggle Dance, as a "golden ale with a honey aroma".

"We noted the advertised claim referred to "No 1 & no 2 flavoured premium bottled ales", whereas the A.C. Nielsen data showed that Golden Champion and Golden Glory had higher volume and value sales than Waggle Dance and Banana Bread Beer.

"We also noted that, while the different beers could be categorised as either golden or traditional, all four beers in question contained a flavoured element, by which they could be commonly compared."