The United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has said that Arsenal Football Club breached the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP)’s Code.
This follows a complaint against Arsenal football club over misleading online ads which enticed fans to purchase crypto fan tokens as part of a Socios collaboration.
As reported by ‘ledgerinsights’, “Arsenal had published two ads, one promoting paid fan tokens and another for a free token giveaway. The paid one carried a warning that prices could go up and down, but the giveaway did not. In the eyes of the ASA, both ads promoted free and paid-for tokens.”
The ASA stated that the free token required users to set up a Socios account, which exposed them to buying and selling crypto assets, which it deems a complex and sophisticated investment’.
Although Arsenal had earlier denied the lawsuit the ASA has now directed it to take down the adverts which were posted on Facebook as well as its website.
But the regulator said that the ads publicized by Arsenal didn’t make it clear that the tokens were crypto assets.
This is in addition to the Ads failure to make it clear that the Investments could be accompanied by risks.
According to ASA, one of such Ads which contained a warning had not done so sufficiently enough.
The ASA said that the advert should have highlighted that crypto-assets are not regulated in the UK and hence lack the protections available to other investments.
The ASA further accused Arsenal of taking advantage of its customer’s lack of experience with crypto assets.
