Adverts for food delivery service banned over ‘irresponsible’ drug, sex and alcohol content

Innuendo-based adverts said London ‘loves acid, pints, poppers’ and ‘blow’

Adverts for food delivery service Gorillas have been banned for featuring “irresponsible” references to drug use and excessive alcohol consumption.

The advertising watchdog has ruled that the company must not replicate its “Whatever London Wants” campaign in the future, claiming that the adverts normalised illicit drug use and harmful drinking.

The promotional clip, broadcast across TV and social media last April, featured a series of short scenes rooted in grocery-based innuendo.

It opened with a man chopping lemons, as the voiceover stated: “London loves acid”, kicking off a list of drug and alcohol references including “getting smashed”, “poppers” and “blow”, accompanied by clips of mashed avocado, a Champagne bottle and a woman sneezing.

Other scenes included a voiceover describing “a bit of grind” while a man scrubbed a bathroom floor, and “getting wet” as a man showered and a second person’s arm cleaned his chest.

The montage ends with the voiceover saying: “But the grocery London loves most is bananas – literally – you order absolutely loads of them. Weirdos.”

The TikTok and Instagram adverts also featured a hungover man saying: “So I just woke up. Slightly hungover ... Literally delivered in minutes. Eggs. Sourdough. A few beers obviously. If the hangover doesn’t go.”

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said it had received 26 complaints that the ads made references to sex, drugs and excessive drinking, normalised and condoned drug use, and were inappropriate for children to see.

The illustration of ‘acid, pints, poppers and hitting the bottle' (screengrab)

Gorillas argued that it did not consider the scenes to be graphic, inflammatory or offensive, and believed that sexually suggestive clips which used humour were acceptable within the advert’s wider context.

The firm said it did not condone illegal drugs or drug use but understood that a reference to drugs in advertising may be acceptable as long as the ad did not condone illegal, drug-related behaviour.

But the ASA ruled that the references to “blow” and “acid” would be widely understood as referring to illegal drugs. Poppers, while legal to purchase, could not be sold as products for human consumption.

The ASA said presenting drugs as a subject of humour would be seen to have encouraged apathy towards dangerous substances, while “hitting the bottle” and “getting smashed” would be understood as unhealthy or irresponsible behaviours related to alcohol.

It also noted that the ad made several references that some would interpret as explicitly sexual in nature with no relevance to the advertiser’s service.

Ruling that the ads must not appear again, the ASA said: “We concluded that the ads were irresponsible and likely to cause serious or widespread offence.

“We told Gorillas to ensure that future ads did not feature references to drugs, sex and excessive or unhealthy drinking that were likely to cause serious or widespread offence or be seen as irresponsible.”

TikTok said that, while the ad was targeted at users aged over 18, it had been removed from the platform because it violated its policy prohibiting the promotion of alcohol.

Gorillas said in a statement: “We fully accept and understand today’s ASA ruling. The ‘Whatever London Wants’ campaign was designed to celebrate the way customers shop in a light-hearted and humorous way.

“It was never our intention to cause offence to members of the public and we sincerely apologise for any upset it may have caused. We’d like to emphasise that Gorillas do not condone illegal drug use or irresponsible drinking.

“Gorillas respect the recommendations made by the ASA and have no further plans to promote the campaign in future.”

Additional reporting by PA