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THE ADVERTISING STANDARDS Authority of Ireland (ASAI) upheld a complaint against an alcohol company which used an influencer to promote its drinks products on social media.
The advertisement, which was posted by an influencer on their Instagram account, featured the man standing by a fridge. He was bare-chested and wearing shorts. The fridge door was open and the shelves inside the door were filled with bottles of different flavours of LeCoq Cocktails. The influencer was drinking one of the cocktails by the neck.
Some of the text which accompanied the picture of the influencer read: “Well well well safe to say these Coqs are absolutely delightful – 6 different ready-made cocktails that are going to take summer by surprise this year!”
The influencer then announced a competition he was running for someone to win a crate of the cocktails.
The complainant had three problems with the ad: firstly that the influencer featured in the ad was under 25 years old and therefore should not have appeared in an advertisement promoting alcohol as a prize to a competition; the post had used suggestive sexual content; the audience for the advertisement had not been vetted to ensure that it was over 18 years of age and that some of the influencer’s followers may be under-18.
All three aspects of the complaint were upheld by the ASAI.
On the first issue, the watchdog said: “The Committee noted the Code requirement that anyone appearing in an alcohol advertising should be over 25. They noted that no evidence or comment had been submitted in relation to the age of the individual in the advertisement. In the absence of comment, the Committee accepted the complainant’s contention that the individual concerned was under 25 and that therefore a breach of the Code had occurred under Section 9.7(a) of the Code.”
The distributors for the brand in Ireland responded to the complaint and said as soon as the complaint had been brought to their attention, they got in touch with the influencer and asked that it be removed.
They said that the influencer took down the post.
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Me, my sister and my brother have Alpha -1 and are tested every 6 months in Beaumont by Prof McElvaney and his team. They are amazing! And from the moment we all got diagnosed they have taken care of us to the highest standard. We are lucky to get diagnosed so early in life as usually, people who find out they have it only discover it because they already have COPD or liver cancer. We have the option to intervene and take care of ourselves as best we can.That means not smoking and not being around smoke.
For an Aplha -1 patient, smoking one cigarette does the damage of 20!!
Prof Mcelvaney and his team are number 1 for Alpha research! Very literally.
As a carrier of Alpha 1, I’m very happy to see this article & hope it creates more awareness. I only found out by chance that I had it & have since been attending Beaumont Hospital. The Alpha 1 team there are fantastic (especially Peggy) & have given me the best care possible. Thank you.
If ever there was a strong message not to smoke.
I was diagnosed in 2011 after 2 years of consistent chest and long infections with double antibiotics to clear it up ..I stopped smoking in in 204 as I was unable to inhale the smoke as it gave me such chest pains .I’m lying in bed now after taking painkillers and hot blanket as the pains in my chest and lungs especially are frightening so it does not make sense to be afraid to to find out that you have it as the more you no the better you get treated and look after yourself. I’m 45 and both my 25 year old nephews have been diagnosed with alpha 1 because they had my symptoms and got checked thankfully they didn’t have 2 wait like I did..knowledge is power .myself and my nephew went to the alpha 1 information day last week and found it very interesting and came away with lots of brochures …The doctors are so good and volunteers to take time out to help us so the least we can do is help them.
I was dx in June of 2010. Please, if you have any asthma, bronchitus, frequent colds, sinus infections, etc. or have any family history of lung and/or liver disease, please be tested. You don’t have to have symptoms to have Alpha 1. For more information go to http://www.alpha1.org.
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