UK Regulator Bans Crypto Floki Inu Ad

The United Kingdom’s advertising regulator has taken aim at another crypto ad.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) alleged Floki Inu, the coin inspired by Elon Musk’s dog of the same name, breached advertising standards, the agency announced Wednesday (March 2). Musk is CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.

A poster for Floki Inu displayed last fall on London’s subway network featured an image of a cartoon dog wearing a Viking helmet. The text said “Missed Doge. Get Floki,” directed at consumers who missed out on the popular crypto Dogecoin that sold out quickly.

“The use of an image of a cartoon dog wearing a Viking helmet and the claim “Missed Doge. Get Floki”, exploited consumers’ fears of missing out and trivialized investment in cryptocurrency,” the ASA ruled. “It took advantage of consumers’ inexperience or credulity.”

Floki Ltd. explained they submitted the ad to the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) before the launch of the campaign and were told that the ad complied with the CAP Code.

They said the cartoon dog image is their corporate logo and was used in the ad to recognize the brand. The company also explained the ad was posted on their website, social media platforms and cryptocurrency exchange websites.

It was not socially irresponsible, Floki argued, to display their corporate logo, and it did not trivialize investment in cryptocurrency.

But the ASA disagreed, ordering Floki to remove the ad. The regulators said by comparing itself with Dogecoin, the crypto coin implied Floki investors would experience the same sharp rise in price.

In January, the ASA banned two Crypto.com ads. The ruling was based on complaints for an ad in the Daily Mail app that featured the tagline,“Buy Bitcoin with credit card instantly.”

Read more: UK Regulator Bans 2 Crypto.com Ads in Latest Crackdown

Last year, PYMNTS reported the Arsenal Football Club was called out by the ASA for what regulators called irresponsible advertising for crypto-related fan tokens.