A threatening nun publicising banking jobs and a car commercial featuring a prayer were deemed unsuitable advertisements by the complaints committee of the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland at its October meeting.
Naked people promoting a new car were found unlikely to cause offence.
Six of the 14 complaints considered by the committee were found to be without merit under the Code of Advertising Standards.
Eight of the advertisements were found to be wholly or partially in breach of the code for reasons ranging from misleading nutritional information to non-existent furniture sales.
Esat generated complaints for both a print advertisement and a direct mail campaign.
Eircell and Esat Digifone clashed in the competitive mobile phone industry. Eircell objected to statements in Esat's ad for its mobile phone service such as "There are no hidden stipulations on when our rates apply", claiming such statements implicitly targeted Eircell.
The committee did not uphold this complaint, finding that type of ad was valid because "standalone statements had no implications for the complainant".
A radio commercial for the Fiat Brava which included ringing church bells and the words "Dear God, thank you for the chance to get rid of my old car" was innocuous and generated a very limited number of complaints, according to the advertisers.
However, the committee upheld the complaint, telling the advertisers "the use of religious references can cause offence when perceived to be used in a trivialising, disrespectful or mocking manner".
Nissan fared better than Fiat with the committee. A complaint against its Primera ad was found invalid. The ad showed body parts, using actors of all ages. The committee thought it was tasteful and did not involve the exploitation of sexuality.
The Irish Nationwide Building Society was also cited for religious reasons for an ad aimed at young job-seekers which showed a large picture of a nun wielding a ruler and asking, "So what are you going to do with your life?"
Besides nuns and church bells, the committee found drug imagery offensive. An ad for the €2 menswear store featuring a syringe and a variety of pills with the tagline "It's not what you put in your body . . . It's what you put on your body" was ruled in breach of the code.
Aer Lingus and Irish Ferries were accused of providing misleading fare information in print ads, but the committee decided that sufficient disclaimers were provided, and the complaints were rejected.