Ryanair ad ‘promoted drunken behaviour’

A COMPLAINT about a Ryanair advertisement featuring a Leaving Cert student passed out on a beach in front of a wine bottle has been upheld by watchdogs.

The ad told students ‘This could be you’ and featured a man in shorts and a T-shirt on a littered beach, suggesting there has been a party.

Complainants said the ad ‘normalised and encouraged drunken behaviour’ and was ‘irresponsible towards young people’.

The Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland upheld the complaints but said Ryanair had withdrawn the ad when requested.

The ASAI said: ‘Advertisements should be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society and that marketing communications may not suggest, or commend, or make fun of over-indulgence in respect of alcohol or its after-effects.’

Ryanair did not respond to a Mail request for comment last night.

The beauty blogging site, Faces By Grace, was found by the ASAI to be plugging products for Boots without declaring such posts to be advertisements.

The site included a message: ‘New post! Anyone else forget their Boots advantage card when shopping? Now you will never miss out on points! Comment on my latest picture and let me know what you buy most often in Boots!’

The ASAI’s complaints committee found this, and several tweets by Faces By Grace, were in breach of the rules. None of the tweets promoting Boots had hashtags declaring it to be a marketing campaign, the watchdog found. ‘The committee acknowledged the steps being taken by the advertisers to ensure compliance with the [ASAI] code.’

ASAI chief executive Orla Twomey said yesterday: ‘For the second time, a complaint involving a collaboration between a brand and an influencer/blogger has been upheld by the complaints committee. Over the past few years, we have spent considerable time highlighting awareness in relation to advertising best practice within this space.’

Blogger ‘failed to state links to Boots’