Fireball's darts pun 'Go for the double' was banned for encouraging a double shot

In January 2026 a UK bus stop poster for Fireball, the cinnamon whisky liqueur marketed by Sazerac UK under the Hi-Spirits name, showed the bottle beside two overflowing shot glasses and a dartboard with a dart in the double 20, under the headline 'FIREBALL — GO FOR THE DOUBLE!'. Small print at the bottom pointed to drinkaware.co.uk.

Sazerac argued that 'go for the double' was a common darts term for aiming at a double-scoring segment, a light-hearted nod to pub culture, and that the two glasses suggested social drinking — 'even two consecutive alcohol measures were not excessive'. The ASA was unconvinced: in a spirits ad, consumers would read 'double' as a 50ml double measure, and the overflowing glasses suggested 'abundance and excess rather than a standard measurement'.

On 1 April 2026 the ASA upheld the complaint under CAP rule 18.1: the ad was likely to encourage excessive drinking and must not appear again in that form. A pun that works on the dartboard became a pouring instruction at the bar.