Recruitment

A radio advertisement for An Garda Síochána recruitment featured a 999 call from a child asking for help because their dad had a knife and had hurt their mum. The advertisement featured the sound of the Gardai responding to the home, including appearing to break down the door and shouting at the assailant to ‘drop the knife’.

A voiceover stated:

“An armed incident is usually over in seconds, but the people we help, that stays with us forever. It reminds us that it’s a tough job but it’s a job worth doing. Join An Garda Síochána today.”

The complainant considered the advertisement was inappropriate to air during a late afternoon radio programme when children were in the car on the way home from school. The complainant said that their 6-year-old child was distraught after hearing the advertisement and at bedtime that night, had questioned whether it was real and had the Garda been able to save the child.

The advertisers said that the advertisement promoted An Garda Síochána’s Garda Trainee recruitment campaign.

They said that the campaign focused on the positive impact Gardaí had on people and communities across a variety of policing roles, including the Armed Support Unit. They said that in the previous year in excess of 61,000 domestic abuse related contacts were received by An Garda Síochána up to 20 December 2024 – a 9% increase over the same period in 2023. They said that more Gardaí were needed to address this and other types of crime and as part of the Programme for Government, there was a need to recruit 5,000 Gardaí over the next five years. They said that the Garda Trainee recruitment campaign was delivered to support this drive, and that the advertisement was created to inspire people to join An Garda Síochána and help members of the public, such as the woman and child featured in the advertisement.

They said it was important for their campaigns that what was depicted in advertisements was reflective of what was being encountered by their Garda members in the course of their work. If the advertisements weren’t authentic, they would not resonate with Garda members, and Garda-member support was vital for the success of their recruitment campaigns.

They said that they had liaised closely with members of the Armed Support Unit, both those on the frontline, and senior management, to ensure the advertisement genuinely reflected the types of incidents Armed Support Unit members were called to. They said that the advertisement was not exaggerated for dramatic purposes; the Armed Support Unit had been called to many incidents where a perpetrator had been threatening a woman and children with a weapon, and that weapon was often a knife.

They were of the view that any fear or distress potentially caused at the beginning of the advertisement was assuaged just one third of the way into the advert because after just 11 seconds, Gardaí arrived to help the mother and child. They said it was clear from the sound of the knife dropping that the perpetrator had been apprehended by the Gardaí before serious physical harm was caused.

The advertisers said that they did not believe that the subject matter differed greatly to the incidents relayed in news reports on radio all throughout the day which detailed murder, murder-suicide, sexual assault, court cases on same and conflict which had resulted in the death of many children in Palestine. They believed the significant difference in depicting the Garda response to a domestic violence incident was that there was a positive ending to the advert, given members of An Garda Síochána arrived at the scene to protect the mother and child. They said that they went to great lengths to ensure the advertisement was reflective of real-life situations attended to by the Armed Support Unit and that it was not exaggerated for dramatic purposes. They said that it was very clear just over one third of the way into the advertisement that An Garda Síochána arrived at the scene to protect the mother and child. They did not consider that the advertisement was provocative, while it had covered difficult subject matter (domestic abuse), it was something which, unfortunately, was typically encountered by Gardaí in Ireland and was reflected in statistics which showed in excess of 61,000 domestic abuse related contacts received by An Garda Síochána last year.

The advertisers noted that the complainant had heard the advertisement on 2FM and said that the advertisement had been given a time restriction whereby it could not be played between 6am-10am, which they had complied with.

Complaint Not Upheld.

The Complaints Council considered the detail of the complaint and the advertisers’ response.

The Council noted that the advertisement had featured the depiction of the reporting and response to an armed incident and that it had reflected a situation that was encountered by Gardai. The Council also noted that the advertisement had been restricted from airing between the hours of 6 and 10am, a period traditionally known as ‘family time’. While the Council appreciated the concerns raised by the complainant, they noted that the depiction of the situation was one half of the advertisement and that the remainder of the advertisement had featured a voiceover only. On balance the Council did not consider that the advertisement had used provocative copy merely to attract attention, nor did they consider that the advertisement had caused unnecessary fear and distress. In the circumstances, they did not consider that the advertisement was in breach of the Code on the grounds raised.

Action Required

No further action required.