Complaints against Paddy Power Six Nations ad upheld by watchdog

Complaints against a Six Nations Paddy Power ad referencing England's 800 years of oppression have been upheld by the advertising watchdog.

The ad was found to be racist, offensive, anti-English and unhelpful in the context of Brexit.

19 ads were in breach of the Advertising Standards Authority Code in its latest bulletin.

A complaint against Rosanna Davison Nutrition was upheld because it did not disclose that the post contained an affiliate link.

Rosanna Davison

An ad for Apache Pizza was deemed to encourage unhealthy eating habits.

Six junk food marketing complaints featured in the Advertising Standards Authority Ireland (ASAI) bulletin.

The complaints were against Apache Pizza, Offbeat Donuts, Nutella and Mooju Milk.

The Irish Heart Foundation submitted complaints to ASAI saying that the online posts disregard the ASAI’s recommended boundaries for marketing communications to be responsible to consumers and society.

It said that advertising standards were broken by making fun of healthy diets, using promotions to engage young people and encouraging children to overconsume junk food during the Christmas period with marketing that referred to Santa Lists and the Late Late Toy Show.

"This irresponsible marketing is happening in the midst of a child obesity crisis where children as young as eight are presenting with high blood pressure and young people showing early signs of heart disease once only seen in middle-aged men," said Helena O’Donnell, advocacy campaigns officer of the Irish Heart Foundation.

“The causal link between unhealthy food marketing and childhood obesity has been conclusively proved resulting in regulation of broadcast advertising to children five years ago.

"This prompted an explosion in unregulated digital marketing that’s more personalised, effective and therefore potentially more damaging."