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Advertising committee upholds complaint against blogger over filtered photo

The Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland (ASAI) has upheld a complaint against a blogger f...
Newstalk
Newstalk

13.41 26 Jun 2018


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Advertising committee upholds...

Advertising committee upholds complaint against blogger over filtered photo

Newstalk
Newstalk

13.41 26 Jun 2018


Share this article


The Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland (ASAI) has upheld a complaint against a blogger for the first time.

In its latest complaints bulletin, the ASAI found 13 advertisements in breach of its code on grounds relating to misleading advertising, brand ambassadors and comparison and principles

The advertisements complained of related to television, social media, internet, and press advertising.

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The ASAI Complaints Committee chose not to uphold one complaint.

The committee is a completely independent arm of the ASAI and is responsible for considering and dealing with complaints submitted by the public or any other person or body of persons.

The blogger complaint upheld relates to an advertisement by Rosie Connolly and Coty (Rimmel Ireland).

The advert, posted across Facebook and Instagram, showed the blogger wearing Lasting Finish Breathable 25 hour foundation and concealer.

The complainant considered the advertising to be misleading.

She said the image of Ms Connolly's face "had been filtered and photo shopped."

She suggested that people may purchase the Rimmel Foundation thinking they would achieve the same results if they used the product - but as the image had been altered this would not be the case.

"Not intended to mislead"

In response, Ms Connolly said that Rimmel had approved the images which she had forwarded to them, therefore, the complaint should be addressed to them.

The advertisers said the post was "not intended to mislead" and they had removed it.

They said they had explicit guidelines in place in keeping with the guidelines set out in the ASAI code.

However they acknowledged that the image in the posts had been filtered using an in-built camera feature.

The ASAI committee said as the posts in question had been removed, no further action was required in this case.

Commenting on the latest rulings, ASAI chief executive Orla Twomey said: "The latest complaints bulletin from the ASAI illustrates our ability to handle complaints across a large number of mediums.

"This is the first time a complaint about an influencer/blogger has been adjudicated on by the Complaints Committee.

"Over the past few years, we have spent considerable time highlighting awareness in relation to advertising best practice within this space to ensure all relevant parties are equipped with the knowledge and resources to correctly identify commercial marketing content across their platforms."

"Last year, we also introduced guidance on the ‘Recognisability of Marketing Communications’ aimed at ensuring Irish consumers are not misled by influencer marketing through online advertisements on blogs and social media websites."

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

See all the complaints here


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