UK Regulator Bans Floki Inu Ads as 'Irresponsible'

The ASA said the ads "irresponsibly exploited" consumers' fears of missing out and trivialized investment in cryptocurrency.

AccessTimeIconMar 2, 2022 at 9:28 a.m. UTC
Updated May 11, 2023 at 5:19 p.m. UTC

The U.K.'s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned ads for a meme-based crypto named after Elon Musk's shiba inu dog, saying they were "irresponsible."

  • The floki Inu coin was advertised on London's buses and metro network last year under the slogan "Missed Doge? Get Floki."
  • The ad regulator concluded the ads "irresponsibly exploited" consumers' fear of missing out and trivialized investment in cryptocurrency.
  • By suggesting that consumers who had not purchased dogecoin should invest in a newer alternative, the ads for loki inu implied it, too, would be likely to appreciate quickly in price, the ASA said.
  • Floki Inu had argued the ad was aimed at the "informed customer" and that the "average customer" – who was not well versed in crypto investment – would be unlikely to engage with it.
  • The ASA concluded, however, that crypto is a "high profile and topical matter" and the ads were addressed to a "general audience."
  • The ads must therefore not appear "in the form complained about."
  • Floki inu, which launched in July 2021, is priced at $0.0000444 according to data from CoinMarketCap. It hit an all-time high of $0.0003437 on Nov. 4.

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Jamie Crawley

Jamie Crawley is a CoinDesk news reporter based in London.


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