On poster sites around the country the Mitsubishi Lancer is shown up in the air, having just driven over a rise in the road. It is covered in mud, booting along.

"Wey-Hey!" says the caption.

As an advertisement it has excitement and humour and it's a great photograph too.

Rally driver Tommi Makinen is doing nothing illegal in the advertisement, as he is clearly driving in a rally under controlled conditions.

The Lancer advertisement would not, however, have been cleared for transmission on RTE, according to its director of sales and marketing, Colm Molloy. The copy clearance committee would not agree to any car advertisement which showed speed or unsocial behaviour. The fact that the car is taking part in a rally makes no difference, he says. Few have the skills of a rally driver and the broad nature of what is being sold has to be taken into account.

A spokeswoman for Mitsubishi Motors says the company had received only one complaint and many letters saying how much people had liked the advertisement. The advert does not imply speed, she says, a car could rise driving at 20 m.p.h.

Rallying is just as much a test of navigational skills as of driving. It is not speed but "price, price and again price" which sells cars, she says,

The Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland gets few complaints about speed being used to sell cars. No complaints have been received about the Lancer advertisement.

According to its chief executive, Ed McCumiskey, the code of advertising standards contains a clause which says no advertisement should encourage dangerous behaviour or show unsafe practices.

Advertising agencies, especially those acting for big international brands, like to go to the limit of what is permissible. Newspaper column inches help the campaigns in the competitive international marketplace. Benetton's advertising is a case in point.

Advertising agencies can also find themselves being pushed by the advertiser in certain directions. In the early 1970s, during the oil crisis, car advertisements were constantly claiming their products were more economical than a rival. Eventually it became unreal, with claims which were only possible under controlled conditions.

Most industry sources say speed is not a factor. Gareth Kinsella of McConnell's Advertising says brand image and how a particular car can become part of a lifestyle are what sell. Research shows that boasting of "nought to 60 in three seconds" bores the consumer.

Technology has levelled out such claims, he says, with cars in particular categories having similar performances. "You hardly sell cars on what's under the bonnet." Other sources say speed might still be used in Britain where there is a "laddish" culture which might respond. The British advertising standards body gets a high number of complaints.

Within Europe, advertising has become an issue where it is about the effects of alcohol, the image of women or speed.

The British EU presidency has chosen to make road safety a priority. The Transport Commissioner, Neil Kinnock, backed by the British government, has been seeking a Europe-wide code for advertisers and has produced a model for the European Advertising Alliance, the umbrella body for advertising standards bodies throughout the Union.

Its general secretary, Oliver Gray, says half of the EU member-states have a code specifically for the motor industry. Others such as Ireland have general principles which can be applied.

It is believed that if the industry does not come up with something to control certain images in motoring advertising, the Austrian presidency from July 1st will consider a directive to regulate it. In Italy, Porsche has an advertisement showing some of its vehicles being delivered to the police. The caption reads: "Now there are no more getaway cars."