A massive advertising campaign in London launched by Floki Inu (FLK), a memecoin named after Tesla chief Elon Musk’s Shiba Inu dog, has pushed some local politicians to demand a ban on ads featuring unregulated financial products displayed by Transport for London (TfL).
Siân Berry, a London Assembly member for the Green Party of England and Wales, has submitted a question to Mayor of London Sadiq Khan about the campaign, claiming it “should have raised a red flag and someone at TfL should have looked at this before it was approved,” as reported by The Observer.
Berry, who earlier this year ran in London’s mayoral election and was her party’s leader until last October, said TfL had accepted three cryptocurrency-related ads in recent weeks.
“Like gambling ads, which we have finally got the Mayor to remove, there is no way our public services should be used to advertise these unregulated, risky schemes to Londoners. I asked for a ban in July and I am still pushing,” the councillor tweeted.
Chris Reader, Head of commercial media at TfL stated that, since 2018, TfL has asked their advertising partners to “refer all cryptocurrency advertising to us for review prior to it running on our estate, adding:
“When reviewing copy now from cryptocurrency brands who wish to advertise on our estate, we ensure that campaigns contain sufficient information to comply with both our policy and the [Advertising Standards Authority] ruling.”
Last May, the watchdog banned a poster for London-based crypto platform Luno “for failing to illustrate the risks of investing in Bitcoin and for taking advantage of consumers’ lack of experience by implying that investing in it was straightforward.”
Meanwhile, Berry’s anti-crypto ad efforts have unleashed a wave of criticism on Twitter, with numerous Floki Inu users and investors rallying behind their cryptocurrency of choice.
“Is it wise asking for a ban on something you do not understand?” asked user Sabre who self-identifies as the coin’s Core Strategist and Marketing Director. “Feel free to DM me your contact number and i may help advise you with your mayor marketing campaign – We charitable like that.”
Another user who goes by the name of Floki-doc argued that people were “free to choose whatever they please to do. It’s so self righteous of you to think your way of thinking has to be pushed on everyone else”.
Source: Cryptonews
