Advertising authority rejects complaints against EBS

The Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland (ASAI) has rejected complaints against a campaign by the EBS building society aimed at the parents of first-time house buyers.

Objections were made by a number of parties, including the Irish Countrywomen's Association (ICA), to advertising by the EBS on the grounds that it was "offensive to parents" and created emotional blackmail.

The EBS defended the adverts as reflecting the reality of Ireland in 2003, even if it was a painful one.

In rejecting the complaint, the ASAI said its code stipulates that if a product was offensive to some people that was " in itself not a sufficient basis for objecting to an advertisement for the product".

The advert featured a son asking his father for €20,000 for a deposit on a house, followed by a reference to the product being advertised and offering no legal fees and no repayments on the deposit for three years.

One complainant believed the absence of a mention of interest payments in some of the advertisements was also misleading but the ASAI said that concern was met by the inclusion of a warning in the advert that terms and conditions applied.

The ICA described the advert as offensive to parents and said it put emotional pressure on them.

It also complained that it was "irresponsible to encourage parents to erode their own future financial stability, that it added to the rising costs spiral of new homes and that it was wrong to regularise or normalise the concept that a parent should mortgage their homes in this manner".

The ASAI said the levels of social responsibility attached to the product was not a matter that arose under its code of standards but said the "element of moral blackmail" appeared to be based more on the nature of the product than on the presentation, which the ASAI did not consider to be offensive or overbearing.

The EBS said the main idea of the campaign was to "educate parents and first-time buyers" of the new options.

The EBS welcomed the authority's decision and said it was responding to a reality "rather than creating it".

The ICA's national president, Ms Breda Raggett, said she was very disappointed with the decision, adding that so many people were "absolutely disgusted".