Estate agency ad banned by watchdog

An estate agency advertisement which underestimated the distance and driving time between Carlow and Dublin has earned a ban from the industry watchdog.

In an Internet advertisement for a housing development in the village of Tullow, the company tempted commuters with the suggestion that the homes were "only 42 miles" and "only 45 minutes" from Dublin.

Following a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland, however, the estate agents - Lowe & Associates - admitted its calculations were based on the distance from Tullow to the Dublin suburb of Tallaght, where the office dealing with the Carlow development is located.

Since Tallaght is in Dublin, the company argued, the claim in the advertisement was not misleading. But the ASAI found in favour of a complainant who argued that the shortest distance between Tullow and Dublin is 48.1 miles, and the journey takes one hour and 22 minutes.

According to its latest monthly report, other advertisements banned by the authority include one for Hellman's sauce in which a teenage boy licks the product off a poster featuring a woman in a bikini top, after squirting the picture accidentally while biting a hot dog.

McConnell's, the advertising agency responsible, said the product was targeted at teenagers and their mothers, and when test-marketed on mothers aged 25 to 44 had been appreciated for its humour.

However, the agency suspended airing of the commercial pending adjudication by the ASAI, which upheld a number of complaints about it.

One complaint not upheld concerned an e-mail advertisement which featured a cat sitting on a soup ladle and apparently being removed from a saucepan.

The commercial, for a marketing company, was accompanied by the slogan: "Is your marketing landing you in the soup?"

A complainant found the advertisement in bad taste, and offensive to the cause of animal welfare.

The advertisers protested that the picture was taken from a Life Magazine collection of humorous photographs and depicted a cat being rescued by its owner from a saucepan of noodles. The ASAI found in favour of the advertisers.