COMPLAINTS MADE AGAINST advertisements on Tayto’s Facebook page have been upheld after the state’s advertising watchdog ruled that the posts encouraged excessive consumption of crisps.

A complainant contacted the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland (ASAI) about three posts on Tayto’s official page.

One of the posts featured two open suitcases filled with packets of Tayto crisps along with the caption: ”Monday musing: ‘Just have one…SAID NOONE [sic] EVER’”.

The second post featured a broken Easter egg containing crisps. It was captioned:

“I’m still working my way through the Easter chocolate & I’m trying out some flavoursome combinations! First up is… Dark chocolate and Cheese & Onion (Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!). Anyone with me?”

The third post showed a sharing pack of Tayto Mighty Munch along with the message: “#CrispPicOfTheDay. A sound spud just sent me this pic. He said he’s not sharing! Who would :)”.

The complainant said the posts breached the advertising code because they encouraged excessive and irresponsible consumption of crisps.

In response Tayto owner Largo Foods said their posts were intended to be “fun and entertaining” and were not intended to encourage irresponsible consumption.

The ASAI’s Complaints Committee upheld the complaint against two of the posts, concluding that they encouraged people to overeat but it rejected the complaint against the Easter egg post saying the use of the term “still working my way through” implied that the crisp consumption would take place at different times rather than in one sitting.

The committee ruled that the two offending posts be withdrawn or amended and noted that care must be taken to avoid the encouragement of excess consumption.

The person also complained that the posts targeted children. In response Largo Foods provided analytics showing that 98.7% of their Facebook fans were over the age of 18. The ASAI’s Complaints Committee dismissed this second complaint.

E-cigarettes

The complaints against Largo Foods are one of 13 case reports in the latest ASAI complaints bulletin.

The ASAI also upheld complaints about a tweet from Vape Business Ireland which referred to using a vape to quit smoking.

As no e-cigarettes are licenced by the Health Products Regulatory Authority for smoking cessation the tweet was found to be in breach of the advertising code. The ASAI ruled that the ad must not reappear in its current form.

A complaint against Aer Lingus over the advertised price of bringing pets on a flight was also upheld.

“The latest complaints bulletin from the ASAI illustrates our ability to handle complaints across a large number of mediums,” the ASAI’s Chief Executive Orla Twomey said.

The ASAI is committed to protecting consumers in relation to advertising – across all mediums – and our approach is to work with all advertisers to ultimately ensure that all marketing communications are legal, truthful, decent and honest.

The head of the body’s Complaint’s Committee, Bairbre Redmond, said it has spent considerable time highlighting awareness of best practice in the advertising industry in recent years.