World Cup ad negatively portrayed English - watchdog

A single complaint that English people were negatively portrayed in a World Cup advert has been upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland (ASAI).

The Paddy Power advertisement appeared on the exterior of a bus and stated: 'Let’s go Japan. Polite. Organised. Clean up after themselves. The exact opposite of England."

A fallen England flag could also be seen under the text.

The complainant said this advertisement was "racist and derogatory towards English people".

They said they were offended by the portrayal of England and considered it particularly inappropriate as they saw it on the outside of a bus while at an airport.

The Independent Complaints Council concluded that the advertisement was likely to cause offense on the grounds of nationality and said the advertisement must not reappear in its current form.

However, Paddy Power said the advertisement formed part of a wider World Cup campaign and should be considered in a broader context.

It noted that only one complaint had been received despite a significant number of people seeing the campaign.

It highlighted an advertisement directed at Ireland and Paddy Power, which read: "Forget your passport? At least you didn’t book this giant billboard hoping Ireland would qualify for the World Cup."

Paddy Power said that the references to Japanese fans being polite, organised and cleaning up after themselves were based on widely reported behaviour by Japanese supporters at World Cup tournaments.

It maintained that the comparison with England would have been understood in the context of football culture, rather than as a statement about English people generally.

Paddy Power argued that consumers would have understood the campaign as humour related to football and the World Cup.

It also said that humour and satire are elements of the Paddy Power brand.

However, the Independent Complaints Council found the advertisement concerning England was distinctive from the rest of the campaign in that it contrasted English supporters unfavourably with another nationality.

It considered the treatment of England in the advertisement differed from that of other nations and went beyond light-hearted humour and the wording could be interpreted as referring to English people in general.

The council considered that humour in this instance relied on a negative portrayal of a nationality and did not respect the dignity of all persons.

'Ireland's Cheapest Chemist' a misleading claim

Another complaint to the advertising watchdog said a pharmacy's phrase 'Ireland’s Cheapest Chemist' was a superlative and misleading claim "without data, sources, or a solid method behind it".

Chemist Warehouse's advertisement was seen in a promotional brochure, which was also available online.

Its strapline read: "Is this? Ireland’s Cheapest Chemist."

The "Is this?" part of the advertisement was italiscised and in smaller print.

The complainant said the strapline had clearly been posed as a question and would be viewed as an invitation to compare prices with other retailers.

They said the use of varying font sizes and styles was very common in advertising as advertisers have to consider the space available to them.

However, the council found that consumers could have reasonably focused solely on the "Ireland’s Cheapest Chemist" part of the text.

It said this claim was likely to mislead consumers, and that the advertisement must not reappear in its current form.

Among complaints that were not upheld this month was a Cadbury’s television advertisement featuring a woman leaving a voicemail for her sister who is living abroad.

In the advertisement, the woman opens a package which appears to be a bar of Cadbury’s Daily Milk, resealed with a child’s sticker.

The title card at the end reads: "There’s a glass & a half in everyone."

However, three people complained that the slogan together with the image of a glass and a half of milk pouring into a square of chocolate is misleading as they did not believe there was that proportion of dairy in the bars.

Two of the people who complained believed milk in the product had been substantially substituted with palm oil..

However, chocolate maker Cadbury categorically refuted the complaints and said they believed the inaccurate information online regarding their products had prompted these complaints.

They clarified that a glass and a half was 426ml of fresh liquid milk per 227g of milk chocolate.

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