Hard Fizz Case - 3x Videos 3x ABAC Breaches

Three Instagram videos. Three separate breaches. One ABAC determination still sitting on the public register.

In December 2020, Fizzy Mates Pty Ltd posted three videos for its Hard Fizz seltzer range. Each featured a bikini-wearing model pouring product over her body or having fruit and product smashed onto her. One video showed an entire can poured straight into the model's mouth.

The ABAC Adjudication Panel upheld three breaches in a single campaign concept:

• Part 3(a)(i): rapid and implied excessive consumption.
• Part 3(b)(iv): no age restriction controls on the Instagram posts.
• Part 3(c)(ii): product used as a prop for sexually provocative behaviour.

The brand removed the posts on 23 November 2020 after complaints came in. The Panel issued the determination anyway.

This is the trap some alcohol marketing teams can underestimate.

ABAC is the primary code. AANA Code of Ethics runs in parallel. The same content can trigger both at once. ACMA layers for broadcast. Pulling a post does not stop the regulator.

We put together a short compliance guide for Australian marketing leads in the alcohol sector.

It covers the seven breach themes that catch teams out, the Hard Fizz case in full, what it costs you (beyond purely financial) when a finding lands, and the five questions to ask before publishing.

Get a free trial of Checked It at www.checkedit.ai

Source: ABAC Adjudication Panel Determinations 172-4 & 176/20, 7 December 2020. https://lnkd.in/giXdzhCW