In a decision that’s sent ripples through the UK’s advertising and influencer industries, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned several high-profile social media adverts for Au Vodka, citing breaches of strict rules designed to protect young people from alcohol marketing. The ruling, delivered in September 2025, comes after a series of TikTok and Facebook promotions featuring influencers such as former Love Island contestant Lucinda Strafford and American streamer Kai Cenat were found to have either targeted under-18s or showcased individuals under the legal advertising age threshold.
It all began in June 2025 when Lucinda Strafford, a reality TV personality best known for her stint on Love Island, posted a TikTok video that quickly gained traction. The video showed Strafford receiving a large gold-coloured vending machine branded with the Au Vodka logo at her home. She enthusiastically filled it with cans of Au Vodka Juicy Peach, took a sip, and declared, “That is so good.” The accompanying text read: “an actual DREAM OMG [hearts emoji] [peach emoji] unlimited Juicy Peach cans [smiling face with tears emoji] & I can keep it?! @Au Vodka ad.” According to BBC News, this post immediately drew attention for its vibrant, youthful energy and its association with a television franchise especially popular among teenagers.
The ASA soon received a complaint alleging that the TikTok ad was inappropriately aimed at people under 18. Under UK advertising regulations, alcohol ads must never be directed at those under 18, nor can they use media where over a quarter of the audience is underage. Furthermore, anyone featured drinking or playing a significant role in such adverts must be, or at least appear to be, over 25 years old.
Au Vodka responded to the regulator by asserting that Strafford was over 25 and that her TikTok audience was, in their view, entirely adult. The company and Strafford’s management supplied a screenshot of her TikTok follower demographics, which indicated that her largest audience segment was aged 18-24 (50.9%), followed by those aged 25-34. However, as reported by The Spirits Business, the ASA noted that the data did not include any information about followers aged 13-17—the minimum age to create a TikTok account is 13. This omission made it impossible to determine how many under-18s might have seen the ad.
The ASA’s statement was unequivocal: “Because the proportion of under-18s who followed Ms Strafford’s account was not included, we could not take the data about her followers into account and therefore could not be certain of the proportion of her followers who were under 18.” The regulator went on to highlight that Love Island content is especially popular with teenagers, and that TikTok’s algorithm could easily promote related posts to users under 18, even if they didn’t follow Strafford directly. “We considered overall that the [Love Island] TV series was popular with young people, including under-18s, and that a number of individuals who were under the age of 18 with TikTok accounts were therefore likely to interact with content related to Love Island on the platform,” the ASA explained, as cited by STV News. “Even if those individuals did not follow Ms Strafford, we considered it was likely that the algorithm would determine her posts to be of interest to them, meaning they would appear in their ‘For You’ page.”
But Strafford’s TikTok wasn’t the only Au Vodka campaign to come under scrutiny. Two additional Facebook ads were also investigated by the ASA. The first, a paid-for post in June 2025, featured influencer Kai Cenat, who is 23, opening a box containing a bottle of Au Vodka and drinking from it. The text accompanying the video was equally youthful and energetic: “Haven’t Tried Au Vodka Yet? Secure The Taste Of The Summer, Au Vodka Juicy Peach [peach emoji] Essences of summer in every sip. [palm tree emoji] Shop Now Pay Later Available [credit card emoji].” The second Facebook ad, which ran in April 2025, showed a woman holding a bottle of Au Vodka Juicy Peach to the camera and saying, “you need to try this.” It was later confirmed that she was 24 at the time of filming.
Au Vodka’s defense for these Facebook ads was that Cenat’s age was compliant with US advertising laws, as the ad was intended for American audiences. However, the ASA found that the ads were still accessible to UK users and, crucially, both Cenat and the woman in the April ad were under 25—the minimum age required for someone to be featured drinking or playing a significant role in UK alcohol advertising. The company admitted that the inclusion of the 24-year-old woman was an oversight and promised to enforce stricter checks in the future.
The ASA’s ruling was clear and direct: “The ads must not appear again in their current form. We told Au Vodka Ltd to ensure that their future ads were appropriately targeted and were not directed at people under 18 years of age. We also told them to ensure their ads did not feature individuals who were, or appeared to be, under 25 years of age.” The regulator stressed that advertisers must take meaningful steps to ensure that alcohol promotions do not slip through the cracks and reach young audiences, whether by accident or design.
This decision underscores just how complex—and fraught—the world of influencer marketing has become, especially when it comes to products like alcohol that are tightly regulated. Social media platforms, with their opaque algorithms and youthful demographics, present unique challenges for compliance. While Au Vodka attempted to show that their influencer partners were of legal age and that their intended audiences were adults, the lack of transparent data about younger followers and the broad appeal of TV personalities like Strafford made these defenses insufficient in the eyes of the ASA.
Interestingly, the controversy comes at a time when TikTok’s own policies around alcohol advertising have evolved. As The Spirits Business reports, TikTok updated its alcohol advertising policy last year to allow such content, provided it complies with local laws and regulations. But as this case demonstrates, even well-intentioned campaigns can fall afoul of national standards if demographic data is incomplete or if the featured personalities have significant youth appeal.
For Au Vodka, the fallout has been immediate: all three ads have been pulled, and the company is now under strict orders to ensure future promotions are fully compliant. The message from regulators is clear—when it comes to alcohol advertising, there’s no room for ambiguity or oversight, especially on platforms where young people are just a click away from content meant strictly for adults.
As the landscape of digital marketing continues to shift, brands and influencers alike will have to tread carefully, balancing creativity and reach with the uncompromising requirements of the law. The ASA’s ruling serves as a timely reminder that, in the fast-moving world of social media, the old rules still apply—and the consequences for breaking them can be swift and far-reaching.
