Advertisment
A radio advertisement for offers at Centra stated:
“At Centra, we have great offers this week, like Centra fresh Irish whole chicken 1.5kg only €5, Andrex 16 roll, Ariel and Fairy non-bio liquid 51 wash €10 each and Tiger and Peroni 12 bottle pack, €16 each. Smart choices choose Centra. Centra, live every day.
Enjoy alcohol sensibly.”
Complaint
The complainant did not consider that the advertisement was prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers as the responsibility message was said so fast it was unintelligible.
Response
The advertisers said that having examined the matter, they agreed that in two of their 20 second radio ads the “enjoy alcohol sensibly” message was not entirely clear and in particular the word “alcohol” was difficult to make out. They understood that this arose as the time for the radio advert was originally understood to be longer and then it was compressed rather than re-recorded. They assured that this would not happen again and that they would confirm that the “enjoy alcohol sensibly” message was clearly audible in future advertisements.
Conclusion
Complaint Upheld.
The Complaints Committee considered the detail of the complaint and the advertisers’ response.
The Committee noted that the main message of the advertisement was spoken clearly and at a normal speed and that, due to time constraints, the section of the advertisement containing the responsibility message had been compressed which led to the responsibility message being unclear. The Committee noted the requirements of the Code in regard to the inclusion of a responsibility message (Section 9.4) and the requirement that disclaimers or ‘small print’ information should be audible (Section 4.6). In this case, the Committee did not consider that the responsibility message was clearly audible, and as such, it was not clear that such a message was in place. In the circumstances, they considered the advertising was in breach of Sections 3.3, 4.6 and 9.4 of the Code.
Action Required:
The advertising should not appear in its current form again. The Committee reminded advertisers to ensure that disclaimers, including responsibility messages, are clear and if relevant, audible.
