The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled in favour of a complaint lodged by the manager of singer PJ Powers, over a print advert by SPAR’s TOPS chain of liquor stores.

PJ Powers’ manager, Yvonne Johnston, in June wrote on Facebook that the singer had been left deeply offended by the TOPS advert, which she felt was using her name for their own financial gain, with a complete disregard for her struggle with alcohol addiction

“Grab a drink and show off those PJ Powers,” reads the printed adverts, together with pictures of bottles of booze and their prices.

The liquor store chain commented on the issue via the ‘TOPS at SPAR’ Facebook page soon after Johnston’s post, denying that the adverts make reference to PJ Powers by saying, “the line was used as a play on words to refer to the Pyjama Party theme for the month of June”.

However, according to Media Update, the ASA has ruled that the advert unjustifiably exploits PJ’s status as a well-known celebrity and, considering her very public battle with alcoholism, “effectively reduced her battle for sobriety to a marketing stunt to gain commercial traction”