A Rum Ad Got Banned for Suggesting That Alcohol Makes You More Confident

Dutch courage. Pot valour. Getting really hammered and finally having the balls to tell Phil in marketing how funny and original you thought that Harambe meme he tweeted was. Whatever you call it, alcohol has long been used for its confidence-boosting qualities, despite the notoriously regrettable nature of drunken soul-bearing.

While social lubrication could probs be argued as one of alcohol's main selling points, the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has other ideas. The British advertising watchdog has just banned a rum advert on the grounds that it implies alcohol can boost confidence.

The offending ad is a 24-second TV commercial for Captain Morgan rum. It features a raucous party on a pirate ship (where else?), at which the eponymous Captain Morgan arrives and begins dancing to "Le Freak," swinging from ropes and knocking over furniture. The ad finishes with the immortal instruction: "LIVE LIKE THE CAPTAIN."

While most of us would watch the ad and make a mental note not to invite anyone who refers to themselves at "The Captain" to any kind of social gathering, let alone garner lifestyle advice from them, some viewers had a different reaction.

Alcohol Concern and one member of the public both filed complaints against the ad with the ASA. The health charity said that the ad was "irresponsible" as it implied that drinking alcohol boosted an individual's personality and confidence. They were also concerned that the success of the boat party seemed to be dependent on the presence of booze.

Diageo, the company behind the Captain Morgan brand, defended the commercial by saying that no alcohol was actually depicted, and that the Captain character "was not shown to be more popular, confident, or self-assured than other partygoers." He also did not undergo a "transformational moment" after hitting the booze, they said.

The ASA's verdict, however, wasn't in The Captain's favour. The watchdog ruled that while alcohol was not directly shown in the advert, viewers would equate the gregarious Captain Morgan figure with the rum itself, and therefore a boost in confidence.

They said: "We considered that the superimposed Captain Morgan face implied that he had already consumed the product and thus linked his confident behaviour to this consumption."

The ASA were also concerned about the use of the phrase "The Captain" in relation to alcohol.

They said: "In that context we considered that the phrases […] would be understood by consumers as invitations to achieve a confident, uninhibited attitude through consuming Captain Morgan rum."

Diageo was told not to run the ad again in its current form, nor imply that alcohol boost confidence in any future adverts.

No word yet on what The Captain himself makes of it all.