BrewDog advert banned for using 'hidden' swearword

A BrewDog advert featuring the phrase "Fuck You CO2" has been banned after it was displayed near a London school.

The promotion, which included a beer can covering the expletive, was pulled by the advertising watchdog for being "likely to offend a general audience".

It ran outside Fulham Boys' School in Camden town centre and in Chiswick in London, as well as on Northumberland Street in Newcastle and in Glasgow's George Square in August.

An identical print ad was also published in The Metro newspaper and The Week and The Economist magazines.

BrewDog said it had wanted to "shock people into thinking about the planet and removing the amount of carbon in the atmosphere".

It added the campaign had run during the summer holidays, so exposure to children walking to school was limited.

But the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) upheld complaints that both the outdoor posters and ad in the free Metro newspaper were "likely to cause serious and widespread offence", and said they should not appear again in either form.

It ruled the graphic was not "out of place" in the two magazines, which must be bought in a shop or via subscription.

The ASA said in its ruling: "[We] considered it would be clear to most of those who saw it that the ad referred to the word "Fuck" in the context of the expression "Fuck you" and was making a pun, in reference to the impact of climate change.

"We considered the word "Fuck" was so likely to offend a general audience that such a reference should not appear in media where it was viewable by such an audience."

Last year an advert for BrewDog's alcohol-free beer was banned after attracting complaints for using the text "sober as a motherfu" and "punk af".

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