- The ARB decided a Castle Lager influencer post needed to be clearly marked as sponsored content.
- SAB was told to either take down the post or add a sponsorship disclaimer.
- The Board found the advert met the rules for responsible drinking messages.
The Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB) has made it clear that consumers have a right to know when influencers are being paid to promote products. This was reaffirmed in a ruling against The South African Breweries (SAB).
It said a Castle Lager social media post should have been labelled as sponsored advertising and ordered it be removed or updated. However, the ARB rejected the complaint about the advert not having a clear under-18 warning.
The ruling, made by the ARB Directorate on 22 July 2026, followed a complaint about a Castle Lager post on X by influencer Jana Swart. The complainant said the post promoted alcohol without saying it was part of a marketing campaign or making it clear that alcohol is for people over 18.
The complainant said Swart was sent to the 2026 FIFA World Cup by SAB to promote Castle Lager but did not reveal the post was advertising. The complainant argued that followers were not told the content was part of a commercial campaign, raising concerns about transparency in influencer marketing.
SAB said the post was just organic content
SAB denied the post was paid advertising, saying it was just part of the "GRWM" (Get Ready With Me) trend that started around the opening match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup between South Africa and Mexico.
The brewer said the post only showed Swart getting ready for the match. It did not show or encourage drinking, make claims about Castle Lager, or push any promotional call to action.
SAB said the post was organic content on Swart's personal X account and she was not paid for it. They admitted Swart had a separate deal to be a Castle Lager brand advocate on her @MzansiSoccerGirl account, but said that agreement did not cover the post in question.
SAB also said it did not pay for Swart's travel, accommodation or tickets to the World Cup. It added that the post showed the "18+ SAB SHARP responsibility icon" the whole time.
Board rejected difference between accounts
The directorate was not convinced by SAB's attempt to separate the influencer's personal X account from her branded influencer account.
The directorate said this difference was confusing at best and misleading at worst. It pointed out that Swart was a paid influencer for SAB, even if the specific account used for the post was not part of the deal.
The directorate also found the influencer seemed confused by the arrangement. Her personal account used SAB's logo and responsible drinking marker, even though it was supposedly outside the sponsorship deal.
Identical post was key
The directorate said the same post appeared on Swart's @Mzansi_SoccerGirl account, which weakened SAB's claim that the X post was separate from its commercial relationship with her.
The directorate said it was most important that the identical post appeared on the @Mzansi_SoccerGirl account. This showed it was created as part of her arrangement with SAB, or at least with that relationship in mind.
The directorate concluded that consumers could not be expected to tell the difference between sponsored content on one account and supposedly organic content on another account run by the same influencer.
It also said alcohol brands must keep a close watch on influencer marketing, since this kind of content is easy for people under 18 to see.
According to the ARB, the post should have included a clear disclosure like "#sponsored" or "#ad" and found SAB broke Clause 3.3 of Appendix K of the Code of Advertising Practice.
Under-18 complaint dismissed
The ARB rejected the second part of the complaint, finding the post met the Alcohol Industry Code. The watchdog agreed that the "18+ SAB SHARP responsibility icon" was shown throughout the post and that this met the code's rule for responsible drinking messages on social media.
The directorate found SAB did not break the relevant rules of Appendix K or the Alcohol Industry Code. As a result, the directorate told SAB to make the influencer remove the social media advert right away or update it with the required sponsorship disclaimer, as set out in Appendix K of the Code.
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