Barred! ‘Bottomless drinks’ promotions run foul of watchdog

COMPLAINTS against a bar that offered ‘bottomless’ drinks and an advert showing a car doing ‘doughnuts’ are among those that have been upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority.

In all, 12 out of 14 adverts brought before the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland committee were found to be in breach of its code.

It upheld a complaint against the Bow Lane Social bar in Dublin for advertising unlimited or ‘bottomless’ drinks for €30.

The committee said the use of the term ‘bottomless’ ‘implied and encouraged excessive and immoderate consumption of alcohol’ and added it was ‘concerned’ that Bow Lane never replied to its queries.

It ruled that the advert ‘must not reappear in its current form’ and the committee ‘advised the advertisers to remove terms such as ‘bottomless’ or similar in connection with alcohol offers’.

The same person who complained about the bottomless drinks ad also complained that they tried to avail of an offer for a two-course meal for €20 or three courses for €25. But they were told it only applied to customers taking the €30 bottomless drinks offer.

The ASAI established that this was an error on the part of the staff member and that the meal offer was available separately from the drinks offer, so dismissed this part of the complaint.

The watchdog also upheld two complaints against Suzuki cars for a TV advert, in which a car is driven at high speed and pulls turns that leave ‘doughnut-shaped tracks’.

The advert for the Suzuki Vitara opened with the car being driven at normal speed by a male driver. A child’s voiceover is heard saying: ‘I’m 36, I’m a husband, a manager, and still very good looking. In two hours, I have the most important meeting of my life. But first, it’s time to play.’ The driver then selects ‘Sport’ mode and drives the car off-road on to a dirt track. The ASAI notes ‘the car was then driven in a circle-like fashion and left an imprint in the dusty terrain as if a doughnut manoeuvre had been performed’.

The voiceover then stated: ‘The new Suzuki Vitara’ with the onscreen text: ‘Time to play’.

The committee accepted that while it had not been the advertisers’ intention to condone unsafe driving, the off-road manoeuvres conducted by the driver alongside the use of the tagline ‘Time to play’ was inappropriate and condoned unsafe practices.

The committee considered that while the driver was not seen conducting the ‘doughnut’ manoeuvre, the ad gave that impression. It considered the reference to ‘play’ was ‘irresponsible’.

It accepted that the child’s voice was used to portray the driver’s ‘inner child’ and, as no children were depicted, it did not consider this to breach the code.

Reference to ‘play’ was ‘irresponsible’