The advertising watchdog in the United Kingdom, Advertising Standards Agency (ASA), has reportedly banned some advertisements by the Football Premier League club called Arsenal. According to online news sources, the ads have been banned for asking people to buy Arsenal club fan tokens ($AFC). The club had reportedly posted an advert on its Facebook page, which said that it would give people an opportunity to vote on minor decisions if they bought the $AFC tokens. These decisions could relate to the song that would be played during the victory of the club. ASA has held up the club for not informing the fans that they would have to buy another crypto asset in order to buy the $AFC token. The club has also been accused of making digital asset management a trivial affair and of exploiting inexperienced investors.
Meanwhile, the Arsenal club has defended itself, saying that the promotional campaign for the fan token was done taking the responsibilities very seriously. They said that the fans had been provided investment information on the website. The club had also added a warning on the website asking fans not to spend more than they could afford. The club defended itself further by saying that they had explained the financial risks to the people and that the price of digital assets is volatile.
ASA has reportedly said that the club did inform the fans that Capital Gains Tax could be levied on the profits generated from the cryptocurrency assets. The Arsenal Football Club pointed out that this requirement was not covered in the regulated investment standards recommended by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
