It’s not a dream — Opel Astras can break down

Don’t listen to supermodel Claudia Schiffer in the advert on the television — Opel Astras do break down.

Despite this rather obvious fact, the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland (ASAI) has ruled that the latest advert for the car brand, which features the German model — Schiffer, that is — appearing in a man’s dream was not misleading.

It received two complaints about the advert. One complainant considered the claim, “an Astra doesn’t break down”, to be misleading as he had owned an Astra and it had broken down on a number of occasions. In view of his experience with his Astra, he considered that the statement was untrue.

The second complainant queried how such a claim could be made and considered it was misleading.

Defending the advert, General Motors Ireland (GMI) stated that the advertisement was a dream in which a man meets Schiffer and said the advert pointed out that the car was successful in endurance tests.

“The statement ‘An Astra doesn’t break down’ was made by Claudia Schiffer as she appears next to him in real life and was intended to be an ironic exaggeration of the dream,” said GMI.

There had been no complaints about the advert in any other European country it was being shown in.

The ASAI did not uphold the claim.

“The committee, while noting that one of the complainants had experienced difficulties with his Opel Astra, did not consider that there was evidence that a significant number of Astra owners experienced similar issues,” said the ASAI.

Two other complaints that were not upheld by the ASIA related to a Rabo Direct advert which showed parents expressing their regret over sending their son to “any college” after he ends up working as a mime artist in a takeaway.

Both complainants considered the advert “offensive to fast food workers”.

One of the complaints also felt it was racist towards the takeaway worker, while the other complainant considered that the advertisement portrayed the parents as being disappointed that their son was working in a fast food restaurant.

The complainant also considered that the advertisement was “snobbish and insulting”, as they did not consider that there was anything wrong with working in a takeaway.

Rabo Direct said it was “surprised and sorry” to hear that people found the advert to be mocking and distasteful.

It pointed out that the advert was merely trying to highlight that “spending a significant amount of money to send your child to a clearly expensive college to become a mime artist, and then, as a mime artist to get a job in a fast-food takeaway restaurant was a bad idea”.

Rabo Direct said it did not consider the advert to be racist and were “unsure how it could be interpreted as such”.

The complaints were not upheld.

The ASAI upheld complaints made against four companies — Dunnes Stores, Less Stress, Argos, and Map Travel.