• The Advertising Standards Authority has banned an ad that has been around since November that read “MISSED DOGE, GET FLOKI.”
• The watchdog claimed that the ad exploited people’s fear of missing out and that it took advantage of their inexperience, and despite a fight from Floki, the regulator had its way.

The U.K advertising industry watchdog has banned an ad by Floki Inu, saying it was exploitative and irresponsible. The ad, which has been around for about four months urged U.K consumers who had missed out on the DOGE mania to jump aboard the next big thing – Floki Inu.

“MISSED DOGE, GET FLOKI,” read the ad which has been displayed on the London public transport system since November last year. Dogecoin was the first meme coin to gain mainstream appeal and shot up to become one of the biggest cryptos in the market. Shiba Inu followed suit, employing some unconventional methods, but also made its way to the top.

Floki Inu aims to be the next meme coin to break out, and it has been pushing its brand aggressively, and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has taken an issue with it.

Read More: London’s public transport system flooded with aggressive Floki adverts

The Floki ad contained an image of a cartoon dog wearing a Viking helmet with the rallying call to get aboard the Floki bandwagon. According to the ASA, “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 trivialised investment in cryptocurrency.”

In addition, the ad took advantage of “consumers’ inexperience or credulity,” the watchdog added.

Floki Ltd, the company behind the project, responded to the allegations, saying that it’s a community-owned crypto project and not a regulated financial product.

Further, Floki Ltd had submitted the ad to the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and the watchdog had told them that the ad was in line with its advertising code. On the cartoon image, the company said that it was their corporate logo and it was used on their website, social media platforms on exchanges.

Floki Ltd further claimed that “it was not socially irresponsible to display their own corporate logo and it did not in itself trivialise investment in cryptocurrency.”

The ASA dismissed the company’s arguments and its ban on the ad was upheld.

This is not the first time that the advertising watchdog has cracked down on crypto. Previously, companies like Crypto.com have been served with orders to take down ads that the regulator deemed to be misleading. The ASA has also gone after non-crypto entities that it believed were misleading investors about digital tokens, including Premier League club Arsenal.