Complaint upheld on advert ‘belittling men’

A radio advertisement where a woman asked if a dog training academy could help her husband to behave better, and a hypnotherapy slimming clinic promoting the talents of “international star hypnotist Justin Dreamz”, feature among a number of complaints upheld by the advertising watchdog.

In the radio ad, a female caller to the King of Paws Dog Training Academy asks if they can “help my Oscar to behave better?”

When asked what breed her dog is, she answers “He’s not a dog. He’s my husband.”

The Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland (ASAI) upheld a complaint from a man who considered the ad part of a trend where men are “belittled, mocked, painted as idiots, and in this case, compared to dogs”.

The complainant said the ad was sexist. A second male complainant said he did not want his children to listen to this type of advertising. The complaints were upheld.

A complaint was also upheld against the Justin Dreamz Hypnotherapy Clinic, which ran ads in the press claiming that a person could lose two stone in eight weeks following a single 30-minute session of “gastric band hypnosis”.

The ad included a testimonial from a woman called “Michelle” who claimed after the session, she “noticed almost immediately that I was feeling fuller a lot faster when eating”.

“The weight just started dropping off. I’m now six stone lighter and feel that finally I have taken back control of my weight.”

The male complaint challenged the validity of the claim that a person could lose two stone in eight weeks through “gastric band hypnosis”.

He also challenged whether the clinic had any substantiation at all for the claim “gastric band hypnosis” actually worked.

The complainant also queried if the testimonial was genuine saying he had seen the exact same testimonial used previously by the advertiser, except the person’s name was different.

He said that as a person who had struggled with weight loss all his life, he considered it to be important that claims such as those made by the advertisers could be proven, verified, and substantiated. His complaint was upheld.

The ASAI received 23 complaints in relation to a Meteor website and radio ad offering unlimited data for €10 a month for pay-as-you-go customers.

The website ad ran under the banner “Unlimited data for €10. A great offer. Simple as that”.

However a footnote at the bottom of the page stated: “Fair usage allowance of 7.5GB monthly applies”.

The complainants considered the use of the word “unlimited” misleading as there was a fair usage policy of only 7.5GB on the plan.

While Meteor argued they were following a precedent set by another operator and that customers were made aware of the fair usage allowance in advance of any decision to purchase, the complaints were nonetheless upheld.

A VHI television advert was also the subject of a complaint.

The ad features a young woman resting at home in bed after a visit to hospital. She is seen reading a book to her two children where the cover contains the text “VHI Homecare included in all hospital plans”.

The complainant pointed out geographic restrictions apply and in fact the service is not available to anybody in the South of Ireland — even if it is on all hospital plans.

The complaint was upheld by the ASAI.

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