IRISH BEAUTY GURU Suzanne Jackson has been found to have breached Irish advertising standards in a social media post.
A complaint about Jackson’s makeup brand SOSU is one of 11 complaints upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland (ASAI) in its latest bulletin.
Jackson is known online by the moniker SoSueMe.
The ASAI found a social media post by SOSU to be in breach of its advertising code as it “suggested that the model’s dramatic eye look had been created by her using the mascara and kohl pencil featured, when in fact she was wearing false eyelashes.”
The complainant considered the post to be misleading.
Service station chain Applegreen was also the subject of four complaints about the promotion of its “vegan chicken” product.
A sponsored article on a website including the headline: “This plant-based chicken fillet roll is the vegan alternative we’ve been waiting for.”
The complainants said it was misleading to describe the product as vegan because “it was a breach of EU law to associate an animal product with a vegan food.”
Applegreen said in its response that it had issued a press release with the words “chicken-free fillet roll” “and no other combination of words that might suggest an association with chicken”.
The company said that the publication where the sponsored post appeared was briefed using that press release and that the error occurred as part of their editorial process, not as a result of any direction on the advertiser’s part.
An advertising leaflet from Lidl was found to have breached the code by depicting a man on a paddleboard without a lifejacket, which is against the law.
They asked that the photograph be withdrawn as it had the potential to encourage people not to wear a life jacket when using watercrafts, which may result in the loss of life.
In response, Lidl said it was committed to full compliance with ASAI code in its advertising and took great care to ensure that advertisements were responsible and did not portray illegal behaviour.
The supermarket chain said it respectfully disagreed that it was unlawful to go paddleboarding without a lifejacket, saying the wording of the relevant regulations did not include paddleboards.
The ASAI’s complaints committee noted this, but said that the code requirement was that a marketing communication should not encourage or condone dangerous behaviour or unsafe practices.
A complaint against Renewell Water Ltd, which makes products such as water purifiers, was upheld on the grounds that an advert via an online influencer amounted to “scaremongering as it gave the false impression that tap water is unsuitable for drinking.
Commenting on the latest rulings, Orla Twomey, Chief Executive of the ASAI, said: “The ASAI monitors advertisement and marketing communications regularly to ensure that they are legal, truthful, decent, and honest, prepared with a sense of social responsibility to the consumer and society and with proper respect for the principles of fair competition.”
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