Several months after the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned two crypto ads by the Arsenal Football Club, the body has published a new ruling in this case.
Following an independent review, the ASA decision to uphold the complaints remains unchanged but on revised grounds.
The two ads in question promoted the Arsenal fan tokens ($AFC) via the Socios platform on Arsenal’s website and on Facebook.
The previous ruling, in December 2021, alleged that the ads violated the advertising standards as they did not clarify the risk of trading crypto and the potential tax implications that comes with it.
They did not even highlight tokens that are not regulated in Britain. The ASA believes that the Facebook ads took advantage of fans’ inexperience and “trivialised” investment in crypto assets.
The ASA upholding its ruling said on August 10, 2022, that Arsenal Football Club must not display the ads in the form complained about.
Arsenal Football Club plc is asked to make sure that it is made very clear that the ‘value of investments in paid-for fan tokens was variable and as crypto assets they were unregulated.’
They are also asked to ensure that they do not mislead consumers by omitting information from their ads, including the fact that free fan tokens require consumers to open a crypto exchange account and that paid-for tokens are crypto assets which are to be bought using another cryptocurrency.
Lastly, they are asked to make sure that their future ads do not trivialise investment in crypto by ‘omitting appropriate and prominent risk warnings’.
They are warned not to take advantage of consumers’ lack of experience or credulity by not making clear that capital gains tax (CGT) could be due on crypto asset profits.
