A NUMBER of public complaints regarding the advertisement of a Leaving Cert results party in Bray, Co Wicklow, have been upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland (ASAI).
One complaint said the wording on a leaflet advertising the party, which took place at the Liquid Nightclub on August 13th last, was "inappropriate" for such an event as it said "Drinks Promos Galore".
Another complainant said she found the advertisement to be overtly sexual and inappropriate for its target market as it was "pornographic" in nature.
The advertisement featured a young girl wearing a tartan skirt revealing black lace underwear and a school blackboard with the words "Sex Ed" written on it in chalk.
A third complainant said portraying schoolgirls as being sexually available was dangerous.
The ASAI Complaints Committee said that marketing communications for alcohol should not target a young audience.
It also said the portrayal of the young was inappropriate for the event being advertised.
It said this style of advertising should not be used again.
The management of the venue, who said the event was hosted independently of the owners of Liquid Nightclub, said they will review procedures for the advertisement of future events.
A number of complaints against a Cadbury's TV advertisement which was said to depict office bullying were upheld in part by the committee.
Complainants said they considered the ad to be offensive as it sent out a message that bullying was acceptable, while others felt it "condoned or glorified or promoted" office bullying.
The ad was set in an office and shows a man named "Tom" having Snack bars snatched from his hand and lunchbox by two colleagues.
Cadbury Ireland said it had not intended the advertisement, which was the third in a series, to cause offence and that previous ones established the characters as being friends. The committee accepted the view that it condoned workplace bullying, but said it did not glorify or promote the act.
It said the advertisement should not reappear in its current form.
A television advertisement for Rennie Antacid, which claims the product "turns acid into water", was deemed to be misleading and upheld by the committee.
The complainant said such a claim was chemically impossible, as the act of mixing an acid with an alkaline tablet does not produce water.
The advertiser stated the claim that Rennie turns acid into water was correct and provided a chemical formula as a basis for this.
The committee accepted Rennie had a neutralising affect on stomach acid, but it still considered the claim misleading as water was only one component.
It ordered that the claim be removed and that the advertisement should not be run in its current form again.
