AER LINGUS could be referred to the National Consumer Agency for its failure to respond to a request for more information from the complaints committee of the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland (ASAI).
In its latest report, the committee upheld 16 complaints from members of the public against companies.
A 72-hour seat sale was advertised by Aer Lingus to email subscribers. It promised a “72-hour summer sale,”
and said there was “20 per cent off every seat, every flight, every day.”
However, a complainant who was unable to take advantage of the offer contacted the airline and was told that the sale was actually offering “up to 20 per cent off”.
A complaint was lodged with the ASAI but the airline ignored it and failed to offer a defence. As a result, the complaint was upheld.
The complaints committee expressed concern at Aer Lingus’s failure to respond to its requests for more information and it is to consider making a formal complaint to the consumer agency.
The word “feck”, so beloved of Fr Ted and Irish people everywhere, has also fallen foul of the authority.
Exterior bus advertising for the Sandtex paint company featured the caption “Feck Off Rain,” alongside an ice cream cone with two chocolate flakes which protruded from the cone in a manner similar to the V-sign gesture.
The advert generated 12 complaints that the image of ice cream alongside the phrase was offensive.
The company behind the ad claimed it was light-hearted and tongue-in-cheek but the authority upheld the complaint because it viewed the combination of the reference to “Feck Off Rain” with the use of the two chocolate flakes in the form of a V-sign to have stronger and more offensive connotations than the use of the word alone.
The Complaints Committee found advertisements complained of to be in breach of the ASAI code on grounds relating to truthfulness, principles, substantiation, decency and propriety.
Meanwhile, an FAI ad for the Carling Nations’ Cup, held at the Aviva Stadium earlier this year, listed “Robbie Keane, Jonny Evans, Darren Fletcher, Gareth Bale” as players taking part in the competition.
However it too fell foul of the authority because it had named players who had been ruled out of playing in the tournament due to club team commitments.