1c savings and cancer cures among 21 businesses breaching ad standards

Sales that only gave a 1c saving and a website which implied that its talk therapies had cured cancer are two of 21 businesses found to be in breach of advertising standards. Testimonials on the website Jeff.ie contained stories of people who claimed to have beaten cancer and tinnitus after trying the talk and energy therapies advertised on the site.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASAI) found that, in the absence of substantiation for the claims, they were in breach of the advertising code. At Homestore + More, a complaint was made about a cushion sale in which customers could only make a saving of 1c — rather than the €3 saving advertised.

The complainant said the website advertising was misleading as it did not state that the reduction applied to the cushion cover only but rather had implied that the full cushion was being reduced. After staff at the store separated the cushion cover from the cushion filling — and sold them separately for the sale — the claimant only made a saving of 1c rather than the saving of €3 advertised.

A fee-paying Dublin school, the Institute of Education, was also found to be in breach of the code after its ads in newspapers and on the side of buses claimed it had “Better Teachers. Better Results!”.

Twenty-two complaints were received over the advertisements. Complainants considered that the claim “Better Teachers” had not been substantiated; some considered that the claim was disparaging and degrading to other teachers and education staff; and 11 of the complainants considered the claims to be offensive.

The complaints were upheld in part and the advertising must not reappear in its current form, with the advertisers warned not to use comparative claims without substantiation. Ladbrokes, Brown Thomas, Fitbit, MCD promotions, and MCD/Ticketmaster were some of the other companies which had complaints upheld about their advertising.

Orla Twomey, chief executive of the ASAI, said: “The main role of advertising self-regulatory organisations (SROs) is to ensure that ads and other marketing communications are legal, truthful, decent, and honest, and the ASAI is committed to protecting society in relation to advertising across all mediums.

“The ASAI provide a free and confidential copy advice service to the advertising industry to help them create responsible ads. If an advertiser, agency, or medium has any concerns about a marketing communications’ compliance with the ASAI’s code, they can contact us and avail of the free and confidential copy advice service.”