Conor McGregor's stout broke advertising rules as Eir campaign deemed misleading

Conor McGregor's stout was among 18 products found to have breached advertising regulations after complaints were made to the Advertising Standards Authority Ireland (ASAI). File picture

Conor McGregor's stout was among 18 products found to have breached advertising regulations after complaints were made to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASAI).

Forged Irish Stout Distribution had run an online advert in the form of an Instagram reel promoting the alcoholic drink. It depicted a group of female models wearing two-piece outfits — a crop top and high-leg hotpants — posing around a vehicle and drinking pints of Forged Stout. 

At various points, the models also posed around a person dressed as a life-sized model of a Forged Stout can before eventually following it off screen. A complaint was raised with the ASAI which said the ad contained "sexualised content which made a link between alcohol and sexual relations / performance".

In its ruling, the ASAI said the advert was "an irresponsible manner in which to depict women" and that there was a "significant emphasis through the use of camera angles, on the female models’ cleavages and bottoms". They found it in breach of two regulations and ordered the ad not to reappear.

MoveHome.ie

Two complaints were upheld against MoveHome.ie for separate advertisements.

The first advert provided detailed information about a property for sale in the Glasnevin area of Dublin. As part of the online description, one benefit listed was that the property was a "mere 28-minute walk from the city centre".

The complainant said this was in reality 4.1 kilometres from the property or a 50-minute walk, with the ASAI agreeing and finding the ad in breach of four regulations.

Separately, a house was advertised as having three bedrooms and one bathroom on the website.

However, a complaint was made which said that the floorplan clearly indicated that the house only had one bedroom and that the two other bedrooms advertised did not actually qualify as bedrooms.

Furthermore, two of the advertised bedrooms did not have two means of escape, such as a door and window.

The ASAI agreed, finding the advert misleading.

Eir

Eir also breached ASAI rules by being misleading in relation to one of it bundles for fibre broadband.

Advertisements featured a series of prices for contracts of 12 and 24 months.

Below both advertisements, it stated that the monthly price of the plans would increase from April of each year in line with the Consumer Price Index, plus an additional 3% increase.

The complainants said it was therefore not possible to pay the quoted price each month for the full 12 or 24 months.

Eir accepted that while it highlighted the price and the contract length, it said it had never communicated that these were "fixed price points".

Other breaches included:

• An advert for a casino which depicted Santa Claus at a slot machine, with the ASAI saying that as it depicted a character of primary or particular appeal to children, the marketing communication could be deemed to be targeted towards children.
• An influencer found to have ran a competition without picking a winner or clarifying the rules of said competition
• Two incidents of advertisements failing to either include a responsibility message to drink alcohol responsibly or to make the message audible.
• Complaints about claims that Ireland was producing "sustainable" dairy products