FOUR NIGHTCLUB promotions in Drogheda which featured pictures of scantily-clad women and references to “fourplay” have been censured for linking alcoholic consumption to sexual prowess.
The drinks industry body Meas (Mature Enjoyment of Alcohol in Society) said the pubs and nightclubs had breached advertising standards by printing the word fourplay next to the suggestive pictures.
The promotion featured in four advertisements in the Drogheda Independent last August under the banner “West Street’s Thursday Night Fourplay”.
Each advertisement – for Storm Nightclub, Redz Vodka Bar, Earth Nightclub (c/o Westcourt Hotel) and O’Shea’s Bar – included an image of a woman, some scantily clad and posing suggestively.
A Meas complaints panel concluded that combining the word “fourplay” with the images in an advertisement promoting alcoholic drink breached its code.
This states that “a drink, its packaging and any promotional material or activity . . . must not in any direct or indirect way. . . suggest any association with sexual success or prowess”.
Meas rejected a statement by the Westcourt Hotel that argued that “the thought behind the fourplay promotion came about by the fact there [were] four venues partaking in this particular promotion. . .”
