Fortune-telling TV ads face unpredictable future
The BCC has ruled advertisements run on TV3 for Irish Psychics Live and 7th Sense — offering premium-rate phone services for psychic and tarot reading — should be banned.
It is the first time such a ruling has been made although TV commercials advertising such services have been running for several years.
The BCC also upheld a complaint that an edition of RTÉ 2’s satirical programme “The Unbelievable Truth,” was offensive over its use of a scene involving the Catholic Eucharist.
A complaint from a member of the public argued the ads for Irish Psychics Live and 7th Sense were in breach of the Broadcasting Act 2001 which prohibits advertising of fortune-telling services.
Irish Psychics Live claimed it never suggested any of its employees had magic powers as suggested by the common definition of fortune-tellers.
However, the BCC ruled the ad was in breach of legislation as it told viewers they could find out what the future held by calling to “discover their destiny”.
7th Sense unsuccessfully argued its tarot-reading service was fundamentally different to fortune-telling. The company also pointed out its advertisements had been running without any complaints for the past eight years on TV3.
The BCC notes that while 7th Sense did not consider itself a fortune- telling service, its ad copy included the line: “What does the future hold for you?”
Irish Psychics Live was embroiled in another controversy last November when its services were strongly criticised by Pat Kenny on his RTÉ radio show.
The company which is run by businessman, Tom Higgins, who brands himself as Ireland’s first astronaut, had a complaint against the programme upheld by the BCC. He also lodged a fresh complaint last month against the broadcaster after Mr Kenny made further negative comments about “so-called psychics”.
In September 2005, another of Mr Higgins’s companies, 4’s A Fortune, was ordered by Dublin District Court to pay a total of €2,500 for breaching data protection legislation as a result of making unsolicited calls to mobile phones.
Mr Higgins could not be contacted for comment yesterday.
A spokesperson for the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) said it had previously determined that such advertisements were permissible as they were designed for entertainment purposes.
However, following the BCC decision, the BCI said it would inform TV3 that ads promoting fortune telling services are banned for the moment, although broadcasting advertising codes are being reviewed.
Meanwhile, the BCC has rapped an RTÉ “mockumentary” for a portrayal of actor Colin Farrell as being offensive to people of particular religious beliefs.
It ruled that an edition of The Unbelievable Truth entitled Colin Farrell’s Darkest Secrets broadcast last March went “beyond acceptable standards”.
A Catholic priest complained one scene showed a man dressed as a priest distributing holy communion.
Instead of saying “body of Christ,” he announced “body of Colin Farrell”. A close-up of the chalice showed it contained not Communion hosts but Viagra pills.
RTÉ defended the programme’s content by saying it was aimed at an audience with an irreverent sense of humour.
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