THERE appears to be a breakdown in communication between advertisers and certain consumers.
The latest report of the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland offers a possible response, since it contains complaints about ads which appear to have, wandered into the minefield between sexist and sexy.
An advertisement for the RTE Guide, printed in the Sunday Business Post, used some tortuous associations of words and images to work banks and breasts into the same picture.
The advertisement, which showed the upper part of a woman's body in a bra alongside the headline, "Banks support women's movement", was apparently making the novel if puzzling point that women who buy lingerie also use banking services. According to the advertisers, its purpose was to promote the merits of the RTE Guide as an advertising medium for products as diverse as lingerie and banking services.
The visual, they contended, was not intended to depict "bits" of a woman's body and there were no sexual undertones or innuendo involved. The ASAI was unimpressed and concluded that the context did not justify the visual image. The complaint was upheld.
Parfums Christian Dior drew complaints over a bus shelter advert depicting a svelte woman's body, naked from breast to mid thigh, apart from a piece of red chiffon wrapped around her waist, which was advertising a "body refining gel".
The complainants felt that the poster was "offensive and in bad taste", added to the vulnerability of women at bus stops and was particularly unsuitable for bus shelters, some of which were located near schools and churches. The advertisers offered no response to the objections and the complaint was upheld.
Women were not alone in feeling vulnerable. Men are also worried about being treated as sex object. Glints hair colourant was the unlikely catalyst for an outpouring of male insecurities centring on the fear that women might start treating men the way some men have traditionally treated women.
"I like my hair like my men. Great to look at and easily changed," read the advertising copy beside the head and shoulders of a woman who looked like she could pick up and drop men quicker than a wrestling champ. According to the ASAI report, the complaints thought, it "promoted a totally sexist attitude towards men by portraying them as objects to be used for a woman's pleasure and then discarded".
Aside from the fact that a significant number of men might well find this an attractive proposal, the ASAI noted the advertisers response that the campaign reflected normal behaviour in relationships by both men and women and did not uphold the complaint.
Finally, estate agents have long been known for waxing lyrical in descriptions of properties, sometimes at the expense of strict accuracy. A complaint against Peter Daly (New Homes Ltd) was upheld by the authority. It found a description of a new housing development off the Malahide Road in Dublin over optimistic in its use of the term "close".
According to the advertisement, the houses are "close to Malahide Estuary".
Prospective buyers hoping to nip barefoot to the bottom of their garden for an early morning dip should note that the Malahide Estuary is five miles away. Flip flops may be required.