Six out of seven complaints, made by Leeds City Council against Tequila UK have been upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

They found Tequila to be in breach of the Committee of Advertising Practice code.

The Council challenged whether Tequila UK’s advertising was offensive for: sexually suggestive language, encouraging excessive alcohol consumption, and whether ads were sexist and promoting misogyny.

ASA questioned Sam Welply, owner of Tequila UK, who defended the night. Although they accepted that some ads contained sexually suggestive language, he believed they were “not likely to cause offence.” It was intended to be “light innuendo only”. Tequila defended their actions as their “come and swallow” ad was changed to “come and slam”.

ASA decided that Tequila was in breach of the CAP code for offenses including: “causing serious offence because of sexually explicit imagery and text, allowing videos to be viewed by under 16’s, encouraging excessive alcohol consumption, linking alcohol with seduction, and including videos that feature people who are or see under 25 years old.

The ASA concluded the adverts were not allowed to appear again in their current form.

Maddy Keating