THE ADVERTISING STANDARDS Authority has upheld a complaint about an ad by home security company PhoneWatch that its alarms were those most feared by burglars.

The advert, which appeared online, claimed one of its burglary detection alarms was “the alarm burglars fear the most”.

An individual complained to the authority that the ad was misleading, because there is no research or statistical evidence to suggest PhoneWatch’s alarms are feared by burglars more than other alarms.

The Committee concluded that a lack of substantive evidence deemed the advert merely “anecdotal” and therefore in breach of the Code of Advertising Standards.

Separately, the authority also upheld a complaint by three people that an ad for Haribo sweets was dangerous and irresponsible.

The advert in question featured two men angling in a boat on open water, both dubbed with children’s voices.

The three complainants said the ad was irresponsible because it did not show the men wearing personal floatation devices (PFDs).

One of these complaints was lodged by Water Safety Ireland, who argued that the wearing of PFDs is mandatory for anyone on a craft of less than seven metres in length, and that an average of 118 people drown in Irish waters annually.

The complaints were upheld by the authority and prompted Haribo to withdraw the advert, after initial pushback.

The Complaints Committee of the ASA upheld the complaints, saying in a statement: “[The Committee] noted that the boat was under 7 meters in length and the establishing shot had shown that the boat was in open water.”

The statement added: “The Code requires that given that children may imitate what they see in marketing communications, they should not be encouraged, whether directly or indirectly, to copy any practice that might be unsafe.

“The Committee considered, given the nature of the product advertised (confectionery), it was likely to have appealed to children and as such, the advertisement should have depicted the characters wearing PFDs.”

In a third complaint not upheld by the ASA last month, a newspaper advert by Jaguar Land Rover Ireland depicted a Land Rover Defender SUV driving out of the sea and onto rocks.

A complainant claimed the advert could incorrectly imply that the vehicle is amphibious, potentially leading to drowning.

However, the Committee concluded that the advert clearly featured a disclaimer advising customers to verify the vehicle’s wading depth before entering and exiting the water, and that the vehicle was not submerged in water, meaning the advert did not breach the Code.

The ads watchdog revealed that it upheld a total of 13 complaints against 18 advertisers last month.