The United Kingdom’s advertising watchdog has banned a London underground ad for Floki Inu. Floki Inu is a cryptocurrency named after a dog owned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The ad allegedly took advantage of people who did not know about the risks of investing in digital crypto assets.
Advertisements that were named after Elon Musk’s dog are said to have taken advantage of people’s innocence.
In a poster campaign, a picture of a cartoon dog wearing a Viking helmet was shown. People who might have missed out on making money from other popular cryptocurrencies, like Dogecoin, were encouraged to join the investment craze by the poster.
This is what the campaign’s main slogan was: Missed Doge, Get Floki. It also said that the value of the asset could go down as well as up. There aren’t really any laws in the UK that deal with cryptocurrencies.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) looked into the ad campaign because it made the risk of investing seem small. It also played on people’s fears that they might be missing out on the cryptocurrency boom. And took advantage of their lack of knowledge about the controversial financial product.
Floki’s Shiba Inu Dog Inspired the Logo
Companies that started in June last year told the ad watchdog that their logo was important for brand recognition and was not socially irresponsible or making meme coins seem like a joke. Floki’s Shiba Inu dog Floki is the inspiration for the logo.
The ASA stated that the use of cartoon visuals made buying cryptocurrencies look fun and easy. Because of this, it took away from the seriousness of an investment that was volatile and unregulated.
People who already knew about a new way to make money with cryptocurrency were the target of the ad campaign. They would have been safe if the ad’s fine print had warned them about unknowns. They also wouldn’t have been able to make sense of any jokes or word play in the ad’s strapline.
People who ran on the tube in the capital were trying to reach a wide range of people, the Advertising Standards Authority said. Many of them would know about the cryptocurrency craze because they were in the capital.
Stop Misleading Crypto Advertising
According to the watchdog, Floki Inu’s advertising slogan and small print warning were both very big. This made it seem like it was very important for commuters to buy Floki Inu now so they didn’t miss out on a lot of money.
The ASA stated that the ad exploited people’s inexperience or trust. Because the commercial was reckless, they breached the code. And told Floki Inu not to exploit people’s fear of missing out by making cryptocurrency sound silly.
The Treasury announced in January that it would regulate cryptocurrency advertising to the same standards as equities and insurance.
They want to modify the law so that ads for crypto-assets obey Financial Conduct Authority guidelines (FCA). Other financial incentives like stocks, shares, and insurance goods must meet the same high quality.
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