Watchdog gets tough on adverts by association

"I have no doubt that the campaign promotes vodka, not horseback riding."

An advertising campaign promoting a riding stable has been accused of breaking the new rules governing alcohol advertising, according to a government watchdog.

The ad campaign, by WTK Soplica, is accused by the Polish Agency for Prevention of Alcohol-Related Problems (PARPA) of covertly promoting the company's vodka brand by association and using horseback riding as a front. It is the first large campaign of its kind since the Sept. 14 ban on alcohol advertising and the watchdog has said it may take direct legal action against WTK Soplica - something PARPA was unable to do under the previous laws.

"I have no doubt that the campaign promotes vodka, not horseback riding," said Bogusław Prajsner, deputy director of PARPA. "Advertising vodka is illegal in any form. The only exception is promotion in places where it can be directly purchased. I am surprised that producers and ad agencies continue with this type of ad even though the law has been changed.

"This and other actions taken by distilleries and beer producers put a question mark over the industry's ability to cooperate with the government."

The new legislation bans all aspects of alcohol advertising, including alcohol-free products and advertising by association. Before Sept. 14, Parpa could only refer cases it considered illegal to the public prosecutor's office. Often these would take months or even years to go through the courts.

"We filed several dozen cases with the prosecutor annually, but none of them was passed on to courts," Prajsner said. He added that the new legislation has given local governments the right to gather evidence of breaches of the law and allowed them to refer cases directly to the courts.

"We will finalize our talks with local authorities on this issue by the end of November," Prajsner said. "As long as no court verdict is passed, we'll see more attempts like this to circumvent the ban." Prajsner is hoping that a court verdict in the government's favor will provide a precedent for future prosecutions.

The Soplica TV campaign began on Nov. 9, while its billboard ads have been running since October. According to Media Watch, a research firm that monitors outdoor advertising, the billboard campaign cost the stable $290,000 in October alone.

Breweries and vodka distilleries, desperate to get their products advertised, admit to working with their lawyers to prepare modified promotion campaigns. "Our specialists will choose the way to reach customers legally but effectively," said Andrzej Szumowski, director of communications at Polmos-Poznań, a vodka producer. He would not specify the type of campaign his company was planning to run.

While Szumowski declined to comment on the WTK Soplica campaign, Roman Jóźwiak, marketing manager at the Polmos-Białystok distillery was critical. "The (WTK Soplica) ad evokes a clear association with vodka," he said. "We're surprised they're running this campaign despite the ban."

Jerzy Trzaska, owner of Media Watch, was more circumspect. "If you knew the name of the Soplica product, you would associate the advert with the vodka, but if you didn't, you wouldn't," he said.

Iwona Jaworska, spokeswoman for the Warsaw-based Unicom Bols Group (UBG), which makes Soplica vodka, defended the ad campaign saying any association with alcohol was up to individual perception. She declined to comment on accusations that the two trademarks and names were similar and reiterated that the ad campaign is organized and financed by the horseback riding stable, WTK Soplica. She said UBG is a minority shareholder at WTK Soplica and that the company was launched a year ago, but declined to quote the amount of UBG's involvement in the project.

"We invested in WTK Soplica because we're counting on a capital return from the company's operation, which is horseback riding," Jaworska said.

Robert Wylot