Sir, - I was interested to read the article by Bernice Harrison, "Wassup with the alcohol ads?" (The Irish Times, April 10th).
In March 2001 I debated the issue of the original Budweiser football "Wassup" ad at length on radio with Pat Barry, director of corporate affairs at Guinness.
I suggested that the effect of this ad, if not the direct intention, was to target children as future consumers, a well-known and disgraceful tactic of some advertisers. I was keenly aware, as a principal teacher in a primary school, of the effect of these ads on young children.
Mr Barry pooh-poohed my argument, saying the ad was just harmless fun. Having done its stuff, the original "in-your-face" ad was replaced by a more subliminal one involving frogs. This, in my opinion, would certainly contravene the new advertising code of April 1st which states that "treatments that are likely to appeal to minors should not be used".
Mr Barry now states that "there have been slippages in the past". Indeed there have! He lets the cat out of the bag when he says: "Advertising is about brand awareness". Children from four up are, metaphorically speaking, all "watching the game, having a Bud".
Wassup with that? - Yours, etc.,
Cllr JIM D'ARCY, (Fine Gael), Sandygrove Close, Blackrock, Co Louth.