BANK OF IRELAND has fallen foul of advertising standards after it ran an ad featuring illegal backyard burning.

The Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland (ASAI) has released its latest bulletin of complaints, which include the Bank of Ireland ad, a Volkswagen promotion which suggested that it was selling cars for €18.99 and Instagram influencers failing to clearly mark sponsored posts as advertisements.

The Bank of Ireland complaint concerned a TV ad which “featured a woman throwing a hippo-shaped money jar into a burning barrel angrily.

“The complainants objected to the depiction of a man and woman burning documents in the barrel and the burning of the hippo shaped money jar and considered that it normalised this illegal and environmentally damaging practice of backyard burning,” the bulletin said.

The ASAI ruled that the ad breached section 3.3 of its advertising code, which states: “Marketing communications should be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society.”

A complaint was made about a Volkswagen sponsored article printed in the Irish Examiner. It referred to various offers on different Volkswagen models, and promoted the car maker’s “low-rate finance and service plans from €18.99 per month”, the bulletin said.

It continued: “The complainant considered the headline of the article to be misleading as they said it was not possible to buy a new Volkswagen for €18.99 a month, but that only the service plan and not the car itself could be purchased for this price.”

The ASAI said the sponsored article breached its code because it constituted misleading advertising.

Claims about ethically sourced gold on the website of a jewellery seller, The Jewellery House, were found to breach the code. The site included a number of claims including: “Our gold is sustainably mined in the deep Irish hills of Omagh” and “House of Lor gold is sourced ethically and is refined responsibly without the use of nasty chemicals.”

Several issues were identified with this, with the bulletin stating that “complainants considered the claims that the gold was Irish and from a gold mine in Ireland as misleading. They said that the mine was in Omagh, Northern Ireland, and classified as under control of the UK crown.”

Additionally, “Complainants stated that the ore produced at the mine was sold to a smelter and that the ore was mixed with other batches meaning the country of origin could not be guaranteed”.

Complainants also took issue with the company’s claim of ethically produced gold: “Complainants considered the claims that the gold was “sourced ethically and refined responsibly without the use of nasty chemicals” to be misleading as the processing of the ore used toxic processes and could not be considered ethical or green.

The company was found to have breached multiple points of the code.

Several complaints were made about various companies utilising Instagram influencers to promote their products. The makers of The Wine Opener, a product designed to make opening a bottle of wine easier, were found to have breached the advertising code because an influencer did not make sufficiently clear that their post about the product was a marketing communication.

An Instagram story by the influencer depicted them using the product and included a number of statements including: “I’m so happy that I’m working with Wine Opener” and “Shop Wine Opener here.”

The complainant said the advertisement was misleading as it was not clearly identified as a marketing communication.

The Dublin Meat Company was also pulled up on its use of Instagram influencers: while the influencer marketing the product did state in a static post that they were being sponsored by the company, posts on their Instagram story did not.

Meal delivery service Hello Fresh also fell foul of rules around Instagram influencers disclosing sponsorship by companies.

Commenting on the latest ASAI rulings, Orla Twomey, Chief Executive of the ASAI, said: “The ASAI fully investigates all complaints thoroughly to ensure that they are legal, truthful, decent and honest for all Irish consumers.”

“The ASAI also provides a free and confidential copy advice service to the advertising industry to help them create responsible ads that adhere to the advertising code. If an advertiser, agency, or medium has any concerns about a marketing communications’ compliance with the ASAI’s Code, they can contact us and avail of the free and confidential copy advice service.”

The latest bulletin is available to read here.