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ARE YOU AN out-of-work mime considering a job in a fast food restaurant?
Don’t: that’s the advice Rabo Direct would give to you. Not everyone is happy with their stance, however.
The Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland (ASAI) received two complaints about the bank’s TD advert which shows parents who regret sending their son to “any college” when he ends up becoming a mime working in a takeaway.
Both complainants thought the advertisement was offensive to fast food workers. One complainant considered the advertisement racist towards the fast food worker.
They also considered it “snobbish and insulting” as they don’t consider anything wrong with such a job.
Rabo Direct said it was ”surprised and sorry to hear that people had found their advertisement to be mocking and distasteful as it was not their intention to upset anyone”.
The bank stated that the ad attempted to highlight that “spending a significant amount of money to send your child to a clearly expensive college to become a mime artist, and then, as a mime artist to get a job in a fast food take away restaurant was a bad idea”.
They said that mime artists don’t speak and make their career out of pretending to be in a glass box, so they therefore felt it would be “humorous to put a mime artist in an actual glass box with a head set on”. They also stated that they did not consider that the advertisement was racist in any way and were unsure how it could be interpreted as such.
The complaint was not upheld by the ASAI.
But Astras DO break down
Another man complained about the General Motors ad in which Claudia Schiffer claims Opel Astras never break down. The man said he had owned an Astra and it had broken down on a number of occasions. The complaint was not upheld.
A complaint against an ad for the Lotto was also dismissed. The ad in question shows a woman on a beach telling her boss she can’t come into work due to “women’s problems”.
The complainant said it was inappropriate that the advertisement made a joke out of women who women who are “struggling to get equality in the workplace while also trying to deal with issues such as ‘women’s problems’”.
She thought the ad “was putting doubt into other minds that such problems were being used as an excuse to take time off work”.
In response, the National Lottery said it was their intention that “the humour of the situation was derived from the male character’s discomfort and Claire’s knowledge that she could provoke such discomfort and therefore, the joke was on him”.
Complaints made against a number of other groups such as Pigsback, Supervalu and TG4 were also not upheld.
Dunnes Stores
The ASAI upheld complaints made against four companies – Dunnes Stores, Less Stress, Argos and Map Travel.
A woman made a complaint after she spent €100 in Dunnes Stores and, instead of receiving €20 vouchers, was informed that the shop had stopped giving out the vouchers the previous Thursday. She said this fact had not been referenced anywhere in the advertising and therefore she had been misled.
Dunnes Stores did not respond when the ASAI looked into the incident.
‘Geopathic Stress’
The ASAI also upheld a complaint against Less Stress for a newspaper article that claimed ’Geopathic Stress’ could be the cause of anxiety and sleeping difficulties.
The complainant argued that there is ”no scientific basis or evidence to support” the claim that ‘Geopathic Stress’ exists
Meanwhile, a complaint was upheld against Argos as they advertised a “stylish Bush 28 Inch HD ready Saorview LED TV” that was not in stock in Ireland over a four-month period when a customer tried to purchase it on a number of occasions.
A woman successfully argued that an ad for a Holy Land Pilgrimage in Map Travel was misleading as the cost didn’t include €250 payable in taxes.
The ASAI’s most recent complaints bulletin is available in full on the organisation’s website.
Originally published: 12.51
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Racist to a fast food worker? Can anyone explain that one to me please.
You can thank the pc brigade for that. Everything is racist and offensive.
No, I can’t really explain it. It’s actually more offensive implying that fast food workers are a different race to be honest hahahaha XD.
It has to be someone taking the p*ss.
As a member of the human race, I’m outraged that this ad is banned in the name of my race.
White minstrel???……oh maaaaammy!!!
Nobody could, John, because it’s a totally bogus argument. The whole tenor of the ad (which annoys me) is that you couldn’t have a profession lower than that of a mime artiiste – this is the view of Rabo Direct, not anyone else’s! Any attempt to bring allegations of racism into this very poor series of ads is worse than pathetic. On the ad in point, I speak as someone who harbours a regret that I never met Marcelle Marceau in real life, so that I could punch the head off him. This is total nonsense.
How can you blame the “PC Brigade”?
It wasn’t upheld
Those fast food workers coming in here taking our jobs….. They invented gayness.
As a member of the PC brigade, I find your post offensive and ask that you remove it.
To be fair I think being a fast food worker has got to be one of the worst jobs out there! Dealing with ungrateful fu€kers all the time! If ya pay €3 for a burger don’t expect the mona lisa of food, say thank you and move on!
I want justice for all the hard working mimes out there….. I’m outraged at the prejudice shown to these silent heroes.
What irked me about that lotto ad is if that woman had won the lotto and was away on tropical island as depicted. . Why on earth would she not just jack the job in instead of ringing in sick!
I demand some realism in my adverts dammit! !
She probably didn’t want everyone to know yet in case they all started looking for money. Maybe her brother has a gambling problem, and if he knew, he’d expect her to pay off his debts. Her widowed mother pays her no attention(she’s always preferred the brother, and has enabled his addiction because she thinks he’s an angel), but with that much money around, Mammy’s suddenly going to be a lot more interested in her. And her best friend is a real user, who doesn’t respect her and just takes advantage of her all the time.
She decides to pretend she’s sick, and go on holiday to clear her head. She’ll enjoy herself and come back refreshed, her mind made up on what she’s going to do. She decides she’s going to quit her job and head off to New Zealand, where her boyfriend has been living and working since he couldn’t get a job in Ireland. He’ll quit working too, and they’ll be so happy to be reunited with no financial problems that they decide to get married.
They have lots of money, but they won’t want a big lavish wedding, they’ll want something simple, with no family or friends. The night before the wedding, two good things will happen- her cousin, the only family member she ever got on with, will decide to move to New Zealand too, and she’ll find out she’s pregnant.
She’ll join a yoga class with her cousin, where they’ll make lots of new friends who don’t treat her like crap, and a few months later, she’ll give birth to a set of healthy triplets. One night, she’ll be sitting at home, rich and surrounded by loving friends and family, and she’ll think, “I’m glad I took that holiday to think about things. If I’d quit my job straight away, I’d be stuck with my old family and friends using all my money, and I’d still be away from my boyfriend. I love my life.”
Does that make it a bit more realistic for you? =)
@Mrs S
You should go into the writing novels business, that’s a lovely story you spin here. :)
Now I get it, – YOU won the lottery Mrs Shalakalananaka …..!!!
Wonderfully. .lol..perhaps you should contact lotto.ie and advise them on upcoming adverts and making them more believable ;)
How come Cecilia Ahearn is making a fortune from her writings, when my own sexy Mrs. S can just, rattle off these intriguing scenarios and freely give us this sample, at no benefit to herself? Something very wrong with this world.
Oh I wish Francie. I’m just after walking through the snow and I’m soaking and freezing, a trip to New Zealand sounds lovely right now. XD
Hahaha thanks everyone. XD I’ve been thinking about writing a novel based on the Journal for a while now. I think I posted the plot on here before, but basically someone gets murdered and I have to solve the mystery, along with some of the other regulars like Glen and Silver Planet and Scipio. We clash with the detectives on the case, Sergeant Yates and Capitaine Adebayo, who don’t want us investigating their case, and then there’s a plot twist where we think one of our gang got kidnapped, but really they were just banned, and that’s what helps us realize who the killer is(spoiler alert- it was Emer McLysaght). There’s also some very romantic scenes between me and Sheik and a really sweet bromance between Were Jammin and Shinnerbot.
I kind of feel it has the potential to go somewhere.
Potential for a daytime soap wedged between Cash in the Attic and Judge Judy?
Pretty soon people will be offended with the word ‘offended’.
I’m the first , I’m offended .
Your offence offends me.
I’m offended that you’re offend at Deco’s offence
Darn, when do they introduce the edit function? Pressed submit and noticed my spelling error at the same time :(
I’m convinced at this stage that some people sit around waiting for something to be offended by, that rabo ad complaint is just plain silly. On the other hand, that Open ad complaint shold have been upheld, I remember seeing that ad for the first time, and when Claudia Schiffer exclaimed ‘Astras don’t break down’, thinking ‘yes they bloody well do’.
That car ad is offensive to my arse cause the pain I get when it comes on. Most annoying ad on earth at the moment.
Especially in the multi-storey parking one with the supposed blokes ‘bloke’, pushing her buttons with his nails varnished to the neins……seemingly!!
Credit tiger that made me laugh so much!!!
Yes I really take offence at an ad where oh-so-convincing supermodel Claudia shows off her mechanical skills and therefore dupes me in to thinking Astra’s are reliable.
Wonder how many complaints were received about the topless Diet Coke guy?…
Im guessing None.
Is that you, John Waters?
Bring back Mailbag. Then we can laugh at these idiots on a weekly basis.
The people who made the complaints probably spend a lot of time screaming at the telly .
My Astra hasn’t broken down in the 4 years I’ve owned it! Haven’t had an ounce of trouble with it even tho it’s an 07. I’ve just jinxed it, I know I have.
My Opel vectra has been a constant source of trouble for years. Never will I buy another Opel. Mitsubishi or Toyota the next time.
Have a look at all the broken down Insignias and BMW,s on the side of the motorway and try to convince me that german cars don’t break down
That’s it. Okay?
Of course astras break down they are a pile of sh*te! Parents have one on its 3rd engine!
First car I ever bought was an Astra, sad to say it was mainly because I thought it looked nice! Won’t be making that mistake again!
Skip them after 5 seconds
Unoriginal but hardly offensive.
Poor marcel I wonder what he’d say about this ……..Oh wait !
The beach ad was not sexist because she could make him feel uncomfortable and so “the joke was on him”…
You have to wonder about the people complaining having chips on their shoulder, seems you have to wonder about the people deciding what constitutes sexist as well and what are the underlying biases that they have.
Miz heffernan seems to think she is above the law. Answers to nobody.
Von , she gets away with it too , but the one who made that complaint was wrong , they advertised everywhere when the vouchers were finishing .
Make up your own minds about Geopathic Stress.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Wprr9TYUwo
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