Hi Spirits brand Antica Sambuca had its knuckles rapped last week in a ruling that should give any business using social media (and who doesn’t these days?) pause for thought.

The cause of the trouble was a selection of pictures taken during a promotions night at a club that were taken by a third party and uploaded to the Antica Sambuca Facebook site for the individuals to tag themselves. The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) found that the people in the images appeared to be intoxicated, while some were under the age of 25, which is deemed irresponsible and against The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) Code. The ASA’s made the point that the brand had editorial control of its Facebook page and therefore used them as marketing, adding a promotional slogan to the photos.

The case highlighted a problem a number of brands were falling into, said one social media expert.

“It’s completely right that these should comply with the rules,” said Jim Coleman, managing partner of social media agency We Are Social, but he argued that the remit of the ASA guidelines was not clear enough. “It’s a lack of awareness of the rules and what is included in the ASA remit that catches brands out,” he added

The problem particularly affected businesses that undertook their own social media activity as they were sometimes unaware of the dangers they might be exposing themselves to, he added. This minority needed to wise up to the rules and ensure they were complying fully.

The ASA remit was extended in March 2011 to cover marketing on company websites and in non-paid online space such as Facebook and Twitter.

Since then, said the ASA, it had sought to raise industry awareness of how the rules would apply - particularly with regard to age-restricted products such as alcohol. Educating the industry about the CAP Code - and the fact it applied to websites and social media - was an on-going process.

“We have provided a range of training and advice seminars for marketers over the past two years that is focused on the extension of our online remit to help advertisers get their ads right,” said a spokesman, adding that this included the care companies must take when using images of members of the public.

The ASA pointed out that companies should not behave any differently on their website to how they would in traditional advertising space. “The underlying principle of the Advertising Code is that ads should be prepared in a socially responsible way,” it added. “This applies wherever they appear.”

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