The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld complaints against Electric Ireland, Marks and Spencer, and influencer Niamh de Brún among others.
Three complaints were upheld against de Brún, the wife of Kilkenny hurler TJ Reid.
The influencer, who has more than 100,000 followers on Instagram, shared posts promoting Lidl, Blanchardstown Shopping Centre and clothing brand 4th Arq. In these posts she used the hashtag #A D instead of #AD to signify it was an advert.
The ASA upheld complaints about these adverts, saying the inclusion of a space between the A and D was “an attempt to obscure transparency” and “misleading, particularly for individuals with dyslexia”.
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“While acknowledging that the post had been amended to remove the space between the letters, the executive noted that the disclosure appeared at the bottom of the post and, as such, it was not immediately apparent that the post constituted a marketing communication,” the ASA said about the posts in question.
In total the authority’s independent complaints council upheld 23 recent complaints, its latest bulletin shows.
Orla Twomey, chief executive of the ASA, on Wednesday said the rulings “highlight the importance of transparency and responsibility in all forms of advertising”.
The ASA upheld 12 complaints as part of an investigation into cosmetic treatment advertising. The authority questioned whether references to Botox in ads by several companies – including DermaSkulpt, KBM Dental and South William Clinic – breached a requirement “that prescription-only medicines may not be advertised to the public”.
The authority also found that a number of companies – including Kerry Skin Clinic, Kildare Derma Clinic and Sculpture Clinic – used “exaggerated” facial expressions in adverts promoting Botox.
In its report the ASA said it “challenged whether the facial expressions in the ‘before’ images were exaggerated and therefore had the potential to mislead about the effect of the treatment”.
The ASA upheld a complaint against Electric Ireland over an email the company sent to customers. The email featured the subject line: “Stay with us on a new discounted rate.”
The body of the email featured a number of statements including an offer for customers to “stay with us for another year” on “a new discounted rate”.
The complainant stated that, upon inquiring about their current rate and the new discounted rate, they discovered the latter was actually higher than their existing rate, which they considered misleading. The ASA agreed and upheld the complaint.
Marks and Spencer was reprimanded over an in-store promotional poster that stated “25% off all beauty*” with a footnote adding: “*Subject to availability. Selected items only. Cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer. Excludes sale and clearance items.”
The complainant objected to the claim that the reduction applied to “all” beauty products when there were exclusions. The ASA agreed, deeming the poster “misleading”.
