A Glastonbury shop has been stopped from running advertisements that encourage people to not wear face masks during the coronavirus pandemic.

Hemp in Avalon broke rules regarding advertising, according to the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA), in which adverts contained "misleading, irresponsible and harmful" information.

The ASA upheld complaints against the shop, that sells hemp products, after it received two objections about the advertisements.

The two adverts in questions were seen in September and October. One was in The Oracle, that was headed "Hemp in Avalon welcomes all customers, with or without a mask. The choice is yours".

Beneath that was a photo of shop mannequin wearing a face mask with "HOAX" written on it. It also offered a 10 per cent discount for face-to-face, unmasked transactions on carbon dioxide-extracted hemp flower extracts.

The second advert was a post on the advertiser's own Instagram account featured the same image and text. Additional text down the side stated: "Unmask yourself and realise that real eyes realise real lies. The plandamic. The scamdamic. The total hoax of Covid-19".

Geraint Christopher, trading as Hemp in Avalon, stated that the Instagram post had been removed and they had no plans to run similar ads in future.

The Oracle stated that they had run the ad because they understood there was an on-going debate in the country about the efficacy of face masks, though they did not have an opinion on that themselves. They said that they would refuse all such ads in the future.

In upholding the complaints, the ASA said: "The ads stated that customers had a choice of whether or not to wear a face covering in the Hemp in Avalon shop.

"Furthermore, they referred to alleged negative health consequences that the advertiser believed could result from wearing a face covering.

"They also described Covid-19 as a hoax. The ASA therefore considered that the ads discouraged members of the public from wearing face coverings in the Hemp in Avalon shop, and more widely.

"We understood that Hemp in Avalon were of the opinion that face masks were harmful. However, we noted that, from July 24, people in England were required by law to wear face coverings in a number of public settings, including shops unless they were exempt for reasons of age, health or disability.

"We understood that requirement was based on scientific evidence that suggested that a face covering could help reduce transmission of infected airborne droplets from the person wearing it to those around them, thus helping to reduce the transmission of the virus in the community.

"We considered that the ads incited people to break the law and concluded that the ads were misleading, irresponsible and harmful.

"The ads breached the rules for social responsibility, misleading advertising, and harm and offence.

"The ads must not appear again in the forms complained about. We told Geraint Christopher, trading as Hemp in Avalon, not to incite people to break the law by discouraging people from wearing face coverings in shops, including by making misleading claims that masks were harmful."