AN ORGANIC food company, a theatre and a sports shop were among the companies found to have breached the Advertising Standard Authority of Ireland’s code of conduct over the past three months.
Organic dairy company Glenisk was rapped on the knuckles for a claim made by a consumer in an online ad that organic food was “100 per cent safe” and another statement from the same consumer that organic food was free from pesticides.
The authority said it considered the reference to “100 per cent safe” was a claim rather than an opinion and that Glenisk was required to substantiate it. It also said while the pesticides organic farmers are allowed to use are “naturally occurring”, they are still pesticides, so claiming organic food is free from pesticides was misleading.
A leaflet from Elvery Sports which said consumers could “buy a pair of football boots and get any runners at 50 per cent off” was misleading because of restrictions on what runners could be bought half-price.
An ad for The Speckled Peopleat the Gate Theatre said tickets were available from €15. Someone complained because the tickets at this price were available only to students.
The authority accepted that the Gate had not intentionally set out to deceive, but it considered that the ad was likely to mislead.
In total, the complaints committee of the authority ruled on complaints about 17 ads, with 12 of the complaints coming from consumers and five from businesses.
