Complaint over Meteor ad upheld

A complaint against the mobile phone company Meteor by a transgender group has been upheld by the advertising watchdog.

The Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland (ASAI) upheld a number of complaints against Meteor over an advertisement for mobile broadband.

The company was the subject of complaints by the Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI) claiming the television advertisement negatively depicts transgender people by "promoting stereotypes and encouraging a good laugh".

The advertisement states ways in which not to access mobile broadband. One scene depicts a cyclist chasing a bus which has free wifi, a second depicts a man skulking in his neighbour's garden and the third offending scene involves a man slow dancing with what looks like a woman in a bar while surfing the internet over "her" shoulder.

The woman turns out to be a man in drag who then eyes up the cyclist who has walked into the bar to avail of the free Wifi. The advertisement states "Don't dance for it".

The advertisement caused widespread offence in the transgendered community and the ASAI upheld two complaints of its voluntary code. The first states that advertisements should not cause offence on several grounds including sexual orientation. The second states that such groups should not be subject to "ridicule or offensive humour".

The ASAI's complaints committee stated that the slogan "don't dance for it" implied "an element of desperation in an individual visiting such a bar and that it would be unacceptable for a man seeking broadband cover to dance with the man dressed as a woman".

A complaint was also upheld against broadband provider PermaNet Ltd over an advertisement which also depicted a man who has to climb up on the roof to get a proper broadband signal. When the signal becomes clear his "perfect mate" turns out to be a man wearing a white frilly dress, red lipstick and a blonde wig with a flower clipped to the side.

The committee found that the reaction of the man on seeing his "perfect mate" was to "recoil in a manner that portrayed a very negative message in relation to the person depicted in the photograph".

It held the company to be in breach of the code.

The compliance committee also upheld a complaint against Meteor's parent company Eircom over an advertisement which stated that customers could have "8Mb uncongested broadband". The advertisement should have included the words "up to".

Aldi were told not to run an advertisement again which depicted two Irish beekeepers and the slogan "Love Ireland. Like Aldi".

The compliance committee said the advertisement gave the impression that the honey was produced in Ireland when it had been sourced internationally.