The U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned ads for a meme-based crypto named after Elon Musk’s shiba inu dog, saying they were “irresponsible.”
The ad regulator concluded that the ads “irresponsibly exploited” consumers’ fear of missing out and trivialized investment in cryptocurrency.
By suggesting that consumers who had not purchased dogecoin should invest in a newer alternative, Floki Inu was implying it too would be likely to appreciate quickly in price, the ASA said.
Floki Inu had argued that the ad was aimed at the “informed customer,” and the “average customer” – who was not well versed in crypto investment – would be unlikely to engage with it.
The ASA concluded, however, that crypto is a “high profile and topical matter” and the ads were addressed to a “general audience.”
The ads must therefore not appear “in the form complained about.”
Floki Inu, which launched in July 2021, is priced at $0.0000444 according to data from CoinMarketCap. It hit an all-time high of $0.0003437 on Nov. 4.
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