ADVERTS FROM eMobile, Three Mobile and The Wright Venue are among 14 found to be in breach of standards according to the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland.
The ad from eMobile failed due to lack of substantiation while Three Mobile was judged to be misleading and a leaflet from The Wright Venue was ruled to break decency rules.
A further 10 complaints against adverts were not upheld with the ads relating to a range of media including social media, leaflet, brochure, press, radio and television.
eMobile
A complaint was made to the ASAI from a customer who signed up an eMobile 18-month contract on the basis of a TV and press campaign. The customer from the Navan area complained that they were unable to take advantage of the offer because of poor coverage in their area.
The ad had outlined how the offer allowed for “45,000 any network minutes monthly” and “10,000 any network texts”.
The network had argued that the complaint appeared to relate to the level of coverage rather than the advertisement itself, adding that information about coverage was on their website.
But the ASAI disagreed, stating that the ad had not stated that the offer was “subject to availability” and was therefore in breach of their code.
Three Mobile
The complaint against Three related to the fine-print on a television ad not being clear enough.
The ad in question was the carrier’s €29.95 offer which included all texts and internet data for that price.
In the fine-print on the bottom of the screen the ad stated that the offer was, “€29.95 for each of the first three months. €39.75 thereafter.”
A customer complained that this was not made clear enough in the ad and the ASAI agreed, saying that, although it was written in fine print it was not linked to in the large print offer:
They (the complaints committee) noted that while the advertisers had referred to the fact that that the price was a promotional price for three months, they had only done so through onscreen text which had not been linked by way of an asterisk to the main headline claim.
The Wright Venue
North Dublin nightclub The Wright Venue were also reprimanded by the ASAI in reference to a door-to-door leaflet campaign for their CAKE event.
The leaflet referred to “C.A.K.E – CRAZY, AMAZING, KINKY ENTERTAINMENT” and featured a picture of a woman wearing bikini bottoms.
It doubled up as a membership application form and had a blank space running across the woman’s back for people to write their contact details.
A complainant said that the leaflet was put through her letterbox and picked up by her 11-year-old daughter. She considered it inappropriate to deliver such leaflets to homes where young children may see them. She also objected to the image of the young woman used and considered it sexist and inappropriate to use in order to gain interest for the venue concerned.
The advertisers apologised for inclusion of the word ‘kinky’ in their advertising and said they will be more mindful of the material in door-to-door drops.
The complaints committee of the ASAI upheld the concerns on a number of grounds, stating that they the advertisers, “should not use offensive or provocative copy or images merely to attract attention”.
The pointed to a number of different sections of the code of practice which state that marketing should seek to avoid sex stereotyping as well as take into account how children may react and be affected by certain advertising.
In all three of the above cases the companies were told not to run the adverts in the same form again.
View the ASAI’s full complaints newsletter here>
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