TikTok star who ‘gets paid to party’ has ‘irresponsible’ alcohol video banned by watchdog after downing four VK cocktails in less than 90 seconds and saying ‘we’re getting lit tonight’

Entertainment

A ‘paid to party’ influencer has had one of her TikTok videos banned by advertising watchdogs – after drinking four cocktails in less than 90 seconds.

Danielle Walsh, from Belfast in Northern Ireland, had made the video as a paid advertisement for drinks company VK.

However, she failed to identify it as an advertisement and it subsequently broke Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) rules about encouraging excessive drinking.

The party animal, who has more than 400,000 followers on TikTok, regularly posts videos of herself consuming alcoholic drinks and describing what she drinks before a night out.

Despite drinking a lot, Danielle says she never gets a hangover thanks to eating pickled onion chips and Diet Coke.

Danielle Walsh, 36, from Northern Ireland, had her TikTok banned by the ASA

She failed to identify the advert as an advertisement and subsequently breached Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) rules on encouraging excessive drinking.

The social media star was seen in the video making four cocktails for ‘pres’ by pouring a variety of alcohol for free, including vodka, peach schnapps, Amaretto and a whiskey liqueur.

After making them by mixing VK alcopops with various spirits, the 36-year-old aid worker announced her intention to ‘do four in one’ and downed all four drinks in less than a minute and a half.

The ASA has now banned the video because it encourages excessive drinking and is not clearly identifiable as an advertisement.

The regulator explained that the video showed Ms Walsh – who has her own line of metal straws that allow drinkers to “sip pints like an exhaust pipe” – standing behind a bar with a row of glasses in front of her as music played in the background. .

She turned to the camera and said, “So for the pres tonight I want to show you what we’re drinking.

“We’re going to do four in one because we’re going to get relief tonight.”

Mrs. Walsh then made four cocktails and said, “Let’s try it,” after making them all and drinking them quickly.

The cocktails combined different flavors of VK alcopops with vodka, peach schnapps, Amaretto and whiskey liqueur that were poured into the glasses ‘free’.

Despite drinking a lot, Danielle says she never gets a hangover thanks to eating pickled onion chips and Diet Coke

As they were being made, images appeared on the screen showing the ingredients of each cocktail, the name and the VK logo.

The text at the bottom of the video, which was posted in October 2023, read: ‘Lets make some drinkssss.’

ASA regulators complained that the video was ‘irresponsible’ because it encouraged excessive alcohol consumption, and was not clearly identifiable as an advertisement.

The ASA ruling stated that Global Brands Ltd, the company that owns VK, confirmed that they had provided Ms Walsh with the alcoholic drinks used in the advert in return for her promoting their brand on her TikTok channel.

They explained that they had asked Ms Walsh to create a series of videos showing the creation of each cocktail, rather than “one video showing four cocktails being made and consumed.”

They also claimed to have stipulated that their products would be promoted in a ‘responsible manner’ and had asked to approve the videos before they were posted.

On this occasion the company said this had not happened and that Ms Walsh had posted the videos without their final approval.

VK also accepted that the video should have been clearly labeled as an advertisement and said they had asked Ms Walsh’s agent several times to remove the video, although their requests had not been acknowledged.

The professional partygoer is paid with neck pints of WKD and rosé

Ms Walsh said VK had not paid her for the post and agreed to remove the video while it was investigated.

TikTok said alcohol advertising was banned on its platform and the ad had been removed by its creator.

ASA Rules for Social Media Advertising

Make sure the content is clearly recognizable: Marketers (and ‘publishers’) must pay particular attention to ensuring that marketing communications are clearly recognizable as such.

It may be that in some cases including a clear identifier (e.g. ‘#ad’ or similar) is the simplest way to achieve this

Please note differences between platforms: Marketers (and publishers) should ensure that content is clearly identifiable to all consumers who encounter the material prior to interacting, and should take into account any limitations and technical ‘quirks’ on the platform they are using (e.g. any limitations on the number of characters, how many are visible.

On Instagram, this means that hashtags cannot be ‘hidden’ on the last line of a long caption.

Please note that the rest of the Code applies: Because advertorial content falls within the scope of the CAP Code, all relevant rules will apply and must therefore, among other things, not materially mislead consumers or give rise to serious or widespread offences.

In another recent video, she mixed blue WKD with rose wine while loud music played in the background.

The ASA ruling states that the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing (CAP Code) states that advertisements must be ‘socially responsible’ and must not contain anything that could encourage people to adopt ‘unwise’ drinking styles .

The ruling added: ‘The ASA understood that ‘pres’ was a reference to ‘pre-drinking’ or ‘pre-drinking’, the practice of consuming alcohol at home before going to a pub, bar or club, where still more alcohol would be consumed. be consumed.

‘We understood that pre-drinking was often intended to achieve intoxication before visiting a licensed premises, and as such we considered that the reference to ‘pres’ in the advertisement implied that alcohol would be consumed in excessive quantities.

‘We understood that the word ‘lit’ has a long history as a slang term for being drunk.

‘We felt that consumers were likely to associate the phrase ‘we’re getting lit tonight’ with excessive alcohol consumption and getting drunk.

‘We also felt that the comment ‘We’re going to do four in one’ expressed Ms Walsh’s intention to drink four cocktails in one video, which further implied the excessive consumption of alcohol.

‘[Ms Walsh] did not measure any of the ingredients in the drinks; pouring the alcohol everywhere for free.

‘We noticed that the volume of “mixer” in each cocktail was minimal.

‘In addition, Ms Walsh drank each cocktail quickly after making it, consuming all four drinks in less than 90 seconds, demonstrating that excessive amounts of alcohol had been consumed in a short period of time.

‘Because the advertisement encouraged excessive drinking and indicated that alcohol was being handled and served irresponsibly, we concluded that this was irresponsible and therefore contrary to the Code.’

Subsequently, ASA also enforced a second breach of the CAP Code, stating that marketing communications must be ‘clearly identified as such’.

Regulators noted that while Ms. Walsh said she had not been paid by VK to make the video, VK had confirmed that they had “provided her with the products for free in exchange for her promoting their brand,” which she viewed as “as payment ‘.

She regularly posts videos of herself consuming alcoholic beverages and describing what she drinks before a night out (photo)

“We therefore considered that VK had editorial control over the post, despite some of their requests being ignored by Ms Walsh,” the ASA ruling said.

‘We did not find that the recipe images made it clear that there was a commercial relationship between Ms Walsh and the VK brand.

‘Although Ms Walsh made frequent references to the VK brand in the video… the post was not clearly identifiable as a marketing communication and did not make its commercial intent clear.

The ASA concluded that the advert should not appear again in the same form and warned Global Brands Ltd and Ms Walsh against encouraging excessive alcohol consumption in future videos, and that these were clearly identifiable as advertisements.