The UK’s independent advertising watchdog has upheld a complaint against former reality show Love Island contestants Eve and Jessica Gale “for nothing”.[zing] investment cryptocurrency”
In a statement on Wednesday, the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority, or ASA, said the ad was “misleading” and “irresponsible” after a request by reality star Elizabeth O’Donnell on Instagram in June. ” According to the regulator, O’Donnell not only offered trading crypto advice – as Gals’ stories say – but also promoted investing in cryptocurrencies without disclosing the potential risks.
“We therefore assumed that the advertisements were directed at a general audience who may not have any specific knowledge of investing in cryptoassets,” the ASA said. “In contrast, in the absence of any information, we hypothesized that consumers would interpret the general impression from the ads to mean that investing in cryptoassets is easy and risk-free, even for consumers with limited knowledge about cryptoassets.”
The regulator said the ads breached the UK’s Non-Broadcast Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing Act because they were not “responsibly” produced, and their largely unrelated status in the UK. The ASA also accused O’Donnell and Gales of “exploiting consumers’ inexperience or dishonesty” by not including information on capital gains taxes payable on crypto profits.
In the decision, the ASA said that Gales could no longer post crypto ads “in the form in which he complained,” but did not prevent the twins from promoting digital assets in future ads on social networks. At the time of publication, Jessica and Eva Gale had a combined following on Instagram with over 1.7 million accounts.
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The advertising authority has investigated and removed many crypto-related ads in the UK from 2021, banning cryptocurrency posters on the London Underground and on city buses, including a Coinfloor ad in the Northamptonshire Telegraph newspaper that allegedly targeted pensioners, and online ads from major firms including Coinbase, Kraken and eToro. Campaigns. In the year On August 1, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority announced new rules aimed at combating “misleading advertising that encourages investment in high-risk products” but did not include crypto-related promotions.