Advertisment
The post on Facebook for Four Star Pizza featured an image of a pizza with four toppings.
The pizza had one cut out triangular slice.
The text attached to the image read:
“Four Star Pizza (name of location)
We know it’s getting miserable outside, but we have you all sorted with this great midweek special.
Any LARGE Pizza only €10 with 4 toppings. Available Monday to Thursday.”.
The text around the circumference of the pizza read:
“We’re serving up the truth.”
The text in the bottom left hand corner of the post read:
“Honest Pizza”
Complaint
The Irish Heart Foundation objected to the post. They said that a teenager had received
the targeted advertising on their phone which had created a sense of urgency by
deliberately using products and language popular with young people to promote the
consumption of pizza. They considered the post to be irresponsible given the problem
surrounding childhood obesity.
Response
The advertisers said that their post had not created a sense of urgency nor had it been
irresponsible. They said it had clearly stated that the offer was a midweek special,
available Monday to Thursday, every Monday to Thursday, at all times of the day. They
failed to see how promoting a pizza could be seen as deliberately using products or
language popular with young people and queried how it could be in breach of the Code.
Further Information:
The ASAI Executive asked the advertisers who the target audience for their promotion
had been and the size and calorie count of a large pizza.
The advertisers said that the promotion had not been targeted at any specific audience and
all age groups and genders had been reached. It had reached a varied audience of between
13 and 65+ year olds.
They said that the pizza on offer was a 14-inch pizza, the second largest of their pizzas.
They said that they did not carry out calorie counts on their pizzas
Conclusion
Complaint not Upheld.
The Complaints Committee considered the detail of the complaint and the advertisers’
response. The Committee noted that the promotion was advertised as being “available
Monday to Thursday” and throughout the full day and therefore did not consider that the
language used had created a sense of urgency.
While accepting that there had not been a specific target audience for the promotion and
that it had been served to some in the 13, and over, age group bracket, the Committee
noted that there had been one slice cut from the pizza and there was no indication given
that the pizza should be consumed by one person.
Having reviewed all the factors, the Committee formed the view that it was unlikely to be
considered that the content of the advertisement was irresponsible. The Committee did not consider that the requirements of the Code had been breached in this instance and did not uphold the complaint.
