Vicky Pattison wedding advert ‘glamorised smoking’, watchdog rules
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Video posted on social media by reality TV star and her husband showed wedding party with cigars. An online advert filmed at the wedding of Vicky Pattison and posted on social media by the reality TV star has been banned by the advertising watchdog for “glamorising smoking”.
An advert for Endrick Clothing, which is owned by Pattison’s husband, Ercan Ramadan, started with Ramadan lighting a cigar next to Pattison before zooming out to show the couple sitting in front of seven groomsmen either holding or puffing on a cigar. Pattinson did not smoke a cigar.
Ramadan posted the video on his Instagram account on 3 October 2024 and Pattinson posted it on her account about a week later. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) “concluded that the ads were irresponsible”. The ASA upheld two complaints: one that accused the advert of glamorising smoking and another that challenged whether the advert “was obviously identifiable as a marketing communication”.
Outlining its decisions, the ASA said the “video presented smoking in an appealing manner and suggested that it was part of a glamorous and aspirational lifestyle”, which breached its code on social responsibility. It said: “While we acknowledged the ad was for menswear products, we considered that the ad’s principal focus was on smoking and that it was depicted as an enjoyable group activity. We considered that the use of slow motion, the formal setting and the jazz-style music added to the stylised and aspirational tone.”.
