Budweiser ad cleared by advertising watchdog

The advertising watchdog has cleared a Budweiser ad of breaching its code of practice.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received a complaint about an ad for Budweiser, which showed a cityscape at night with the words: "Good times, they're out there".

The complainant said the ad was "irresponsible" because it implied that alcohol was essential to having a good time.

The ASA, itself, also challenged whether the ad suggested that alcohol was responsible for the success of a social event.

Bud brewer InBev UK said the city landscape was abstract and the only mention of Budweiser was a small logo — there were no pictures of people drinking at all.

It said the ad was intended to capture optimism and its aim was to "associate the Budweiser brand with the excitement and promise of a large, modern city at night, but not that those feelings were a condition of drinking Budweiser".

The two challenges were not upheld by the ASA. "Because it was not implied in the ad that alcohol was essential, we concluded that the ad was not harmful and irresponsible," it ruled.