The UK advertising watchdog Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has decided to ban an advertising campaign launched by floki inu (FLK), a memecoin named after Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk’s Shiba Inu dog. The move follows earlier calls by local politicians to ban ads featuring unregulated financial products displayed by Transport for London (TfL).
The ad, built around the slogan ‘MISSED DOGE. GET FLOKI,’ was determined to be “irresponsible,” according to the watchdog.
The ASA says it has launched a procedure to challenge the ad because Floki Inu’s use of an image of a cartoon dog wearing a Viking helmet and the campaign’s slogan exploited consumers’ fear of ‘missing out’, and it trivialized investment in cryptoassets.
Floki Inu’s operator defended itself by saying that the cartoon dog image was their corporate logo, and it was used to boost brand recognition. The ad’s intended audience was the ‘Informed Consumer’ who was invited to take note of a new crypto.
The ad protected the ‘average consumer’ by featuring appropriate risk warnings concerning cryptoassets, they told the ASA, according to the statement.
Despite these explanations, the UK agency has made a decision that the ad must not appear again in the form that was complained about.
“We told Floki Ltd t/a Floki Inu to ensure that they did not irresponsibly exploit consumer’s fear of missing out and trivialise investment in cryptocurrency. We also told them to ensure that they did not irresponsibly take advantage of consumers’ lack of experience or credulity by not making clear [a capital gains tax] could be due on cryptocurrency profits,” the watchdog said.
At 12:53 UTC, floki inu was trading at USD 0.000045. It’s up 22.6% in a day and 25% in a week.
