The Arsenal Football Club (AFC) has been censured for what regulators called irresponsible advertising for crypto-related fan tokens. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the U.K.’s marketing watchdog, said the online promotions “trivialized investment in cryptoassets.”
On Wednesday, the ASA reported Arsenal’s Facebook page featured the ad on Aug. 12. It included text that stated “$AFC in now live $CHZ” and defenders “Ben White, Calum Chambers and Kieran Tierney have had their say … But what song do you want to hear when we win? Download the Socios app to get your token and vote.”
It also included a video featuring White, Chambers and Tierney. The post linked to an earlier web page titled “$AFC Fan Token: Everything you need to know” and explained the Arsenal Fan Token and the benefits it offers. The bottom of the page featured text that said “In order to buy $AFC fan tokens you need to purchase the cryptocurrency Chiliz. Please remember that the future value of Fan Tokens is dependent on supply and demand, and can therefore go up as well as down. Fans should be aware that they could lose some or all of their money invested. We advise you to spend only what you can afford and seek independent financial advice if required.”
These ads were irresponsible because they took advantage of consumers’ inexperience, the ASA ruled, and the team was ordered to remove them.
“The ads were misleading because they failed to illustrate the risk of the investment … and did not make clear the token was a cryptoasset, which could only be obtained by opening an account and exchanging with another cryptocurrency which had to be purchased,” the ruling said.
An Arsenal spokeswoman told PYMNTS the team takes its marketing responsibilities to fans very seriously.
“We carefully considered the communications to fans regarding our promotions and provided information regarding financial risks,” she said. “We will endeavor to comply with the ASA’s guidance regarding future communications in this fast-moving area. However, we will be seeking an Independent Review of the ASA’s ruling to seek greater clarity on the ASA’s current position.”
In written response to the complaint Arsenal said the team partnered with Socios to provide fans with access to a digital platform where they could interact with each other and collect Fan Tokens to influence and engage with club decisions.
The tokens were not promoted as financial products or an investment vehicle and the team did not encourage the token trading, the football club wrote, saying the Socios App featured a disclaimer that stated “Fan Tokens do not represent financial instruments or any form of financial product. They are meant to be used for entertainment and fan experience purposes only.”
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