On 2nd March, U.K's advertisement regulator, Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), has banned the promotion of Floki Inu for taking advantage of customers' FOMO (fears of missing out) and trivializing investments on the cryptocurrency boom.

ASA tweeted on Wednesday about "Ruling on Floki Inu", stating "We've published four rulings this week, including one which bans an ad for a cryptocurrency for taking advantage of consumers' lack of experience in this area."

After investigation, the ASA ruled: "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."

Floki Inu, a meme coin given Elon Musk pet Shiba Inu, sent off an advert in London's transports and subway network the year before. The promotion includes an animation Shiba Inu wearing a Viking protective cap, tempting the people who might have "missed" out on benefiting from other well-known cryptos, like Dogecoin, to put resources into the more up-to-date other option.

Alongside floki inu (FLOKI) logo, the advertisement is a disclaimer informing that investments "may go down as well as up in value" and referenced that Cryptocurrencies are as of now not regulated in the UK.

The ASA hailed the campaign for minimizing the risk of crypto investments, taking advantage of purchasers' credulity, and making the most of individuals' lack of crypto knowledge.

"We considered that the use of cartoon imagery gave the impression that purchasing cryptocurrency was a light-hearted and trivial matter. As such, it distracted consumers from the seriousness of an investment which was volatile and unregulated."

Floki Inu contended that the promotion designated the "informed customer." On the other hand, the organization explained that the " average customer," who comes up short on information in crypto, is safeguarded by the warnings in the advertisement's small print and wouldn't comprehend within joke and wit utilized as a copy.

However, ASA surmised that crypto is a "high profile and topical matter," and the advertisements were addressed to the overall population. The organization's utilization of smaller texts for the admonitions contrasted with the main ad copy would give the impression to any suburbanite that purchasing Floki Inu presently is an unquestionable requirement to try not to pass up benefits.

The watchdog additionally added that because of the advertisement taking advantage of "consumers’ inexperience credulity," the campaign was considered "irresponsible and breached the code."

Joyashree Dey

CBW - External Analyst

INDIA