A COMPLAINT by the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre about an advertisement for Burton Menswear has been upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland.
It featured a distressed young woman cutting up a man's tie with scissors. The Rape Crisis Centre found the advertisement "offensive and insensitive" to women's place in society. It had "a growing concern about advertisements like this at a time when violence against women in their homes and on the street is a serious and worrying problem".
The Mellors Reay & Partners, advertising agency in London told the complaints committee of the ASAI that the advertisement showed the woman had been left, by her boyfriend. She was "expressing her natural emotions at the break-up ... by cutting up his tie".
The woman, the agency said, "was an empowered individual who would stand up for herself, and was capable of healthy expressions of both sadness and anger".
The ASAI felt the explanation "would not be known to the public", and concluded the advertisement was not acceptable.
A complaint from the National Women's Council of Ireland about an advertisement for the Southern Comfort alcoholic drink was not upheld. It showed a young woman sitting on the boot of a car embracing a young man, with the caption "Take Comfort Where You Can".
The NWCI considered it "coarse and offensive" and objected to the use of "provocative images and undesirable innuendo to promote an alcoholic product". It also believed "the objectification of women and the relation of such images to violence against women was a major source of concern".
The Irish International Advertising and Marketing agency told the ASAI the advert was part of a campaign to "reflect the heritage and imagery of the Deep South of the USI and its people". All photographs used in the campaign were "reportage/slice-of-life-shots" taken at the New Orleans Mardi Gras in 1994.
Another complaint not upheld concerned Wrangler jeans. It showed a man buckling up his jeans, with the caption "Every pair tells a story". In the background is a scarecrow wearing a hat, jacket, boxer shorts but no jeans/trousers. The complainant considered the portrayal of the man "opening his fly" offensive.
The Media Bureau agency said the man was not opening his fly; he was closing it. He had just taken the jeans from the scarecrow and was putting them on. The ASAI felt the advertisement was not in breach of the advertising standards code.
But not all complaints concerned sex, the sexist or the the sexy.
An objection to an advertisement for the pantomime Sleeping Beauty, in which Gerry Ryan appeared, was upheld. The complainant said a poster for the pantomime gave the impression Mr Ryan was appearing "live" in the show, whereas he did so courtesy of a video recording.
MCD management responded that it had said it was "reinventing panto". It had spent five days recording "Captain Ryano communicating from a far galaxy", and of the 50,000 people who had seen the show, only two had complained.
