Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Tampax

Advertising body defends decision to ban 'offensive' Tampax ad

The ASAI said that the vast majority of complaints came from women.

THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE of the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland (ASAI) has defended the decision to uphold complaints that a Tampax ad was offensive.

Orla Toomey, speaking on RTÉ Radio One’s Drivetime programme, said that the scale of complaints against the ad “would indicate that it has caused widespread offence”.

The ad, which addressed how tampons should be inserted in a mock chat-show setting, received 84 complaints – prompting the ASAI to advise that the advertisement shouldn’t run again in the same format.

The regulatory body upheld complaints that claimed the ad caused general offence. The ASAI didn’t uphold complaints which claimed it was demeaning to women, contained sexual innuendo, or was unsuitable for children.

“Most of the time an ad is complained about, we might get one or two complaints. In the last four and a half years, there have only been seven ads that have had more than 60 complaints made about them,” Toomey said.

She said:

We don’t have an objection at all to there being educational type ads for any product. And certainly not for tampons. But it is about how it is done and the content and the context and the way it is done. And in this case, even some of our complainants were positive about the fact that there was an educational message but they didn’t like the way the message was delivered. I think that’s part of the issue.

While Toomey said that the ASAI didn’t gather demographic information regarding complaints, she said that most of those who took issue with the Tampax ad were women with a “wide range of life experience”. 

“We don’t capture demographic information about our complainants about from their names and addresses, but certainly from the tone of the complaints and from what they’ve said in their complaints, it was across a wide range of life experience,” Toomey told the programme.

In the ad, a TV host asked the audience how many of them could feel their tampon. She told them that they shouldn’t feel it, and that it might mean it wasn’t “in far enough”.

“You gotta get ‘em up there, girls,” she said.

The ad showed a pair of hands displaying how to prepare a tampon to be used and how far it should be inserted.

A voice-over and captions during the demonstration said: “Not just the tip, up to the grip.”

Proctor & Gamble said that the target audience for the ad was women between age 16 and 44, and that it had avoided airtime during “kids TV” as it would be of no benefit to them to advertise around programmes that were not watched by their target audience.

It said that in Ireland, advertising for feminine care products was not permitted on programmes with an audience expected to be at least 50% children under 18, and that there were restrictions for advertising feminine care products on UK stations transmitting to Ireland for programmes with an audience comprised 20% or more of children under 16.

On social media today, the decision by ASAI was widely questioned – with many defending and praising the ad. On RTÉ’s Drivetime programme this evening, founder of Goss.ie Alexandra Ryan said that the complaints were “insane”.

“It’s a way to grab younger women’s attention,” she said. 

A spokesperson for the ASAI told TheJournal.ie that it “is unusual for advertisements complained about to be subject to more than 50 complaints.  When the number is 80+ it is evidence that the advertisement as caused, for the purposes of the Code, widespread offence”. 

The spokesperson said that since January 2016, the body has received 7,969 complaints about 5,203 advertisements -  seven ads had 60 complaints or more. 

With reporting from Lauren Boland and Sinead O’Carroll

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
88 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Begrudgy
    Favourite Begrudgy
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 4:59 PM

    Google maps. How to get to the city you were supposed to fly in to.

    348
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute I love my County
    Favourite I love my County
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 5:08 PM

    I love Ryanair. Wat’s not to love about flying to Liverpool, Venice, Milan or Berlin for a total of €857 return on 4 separate trips in the last year!!! Serious value!!!

    223
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Red4fred
    Favourite Red4fred
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 6:58 PM

    At least it’s ‘Blow them out of the water’ and not ‘Blow them outta the sky’

    54
    See 2 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Sherrit
    Favourite John Sherrit
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 10:57 PM

    Once you pay for baggage and seat then the cost is similar to most other scheduled airlines but the service is worse. Only day trippers and backpackers use them. The only people who get value are the Irish as the only major airport they fly to is Dublin for the rest of us it’s 4 am starts to an airport in the middle of nowhere with no public transport…

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Bob
    Favourite Bob
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 11:43 PM

    Yes, apart from Dublin, Ryanair only serves minor airports like Gatwick, Manchester, Edinburgh, Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon, Rome….

    Shall I fo on?

    45
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Seamus O'Conner
    Favourite Seamus O'Conner
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 5:55 PM

    Cheaper to fly to England than get a train from Belfast to Dublin. Thanks Ryanair.

    307
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Andrew Nadin
    Favourite Andrew Nadin
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 6:18 PM

    Cheaper than Drogheda to Dublin

    134
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Vinny
    Favourite Vinny
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 5:12 PM

    FairPlay to Ryanair they are flying ahead

    69
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mitch Connor
    Favourite Mitch Connor
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 6:07 PM

    Is Google launching a “Skyscanner” competitor with Ryanair featuring at the top of results?

    52
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Seweryn Sapinski
    Favourite Seweryn Sapinski
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 10:25 PM

    God bless them for superseding Skyscanner and other comparison sites. We don’t need hundreds of sites and companies when we can have all services from one – GOOGLE!! In Google our trust!

    14
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute She'sGotAGREATASS!
    Favourite She'sGotAGREATASS!
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 5:31 PM

    Michael O’Leary has one of the most punchable looking heads I have ever seen.

    51
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute I love my County
    Favourite I love my County
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 6:46 PM

    We can’t all look like Al Pacino unfortunately……

    25
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tomás O'Loughlin
    Favourite Tomás O'Loughlin
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 8:35 PM

    I really don’t get this at all. If it’s a comparison site then surely google is working with all airlines? In which case it has nothing in particular to do with them?

    Or is it that Ryanair are so confident of being the cheapest they’re trumpeting it?

    39
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pilib O Muiregan
    Favourite Pilib O Muiregan
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 7:13 PM

    Ryanair are the only job flying to Paris with Air Lingus next week, went to check in online and print my boarding pass and they want an extra tenner to pick my seats??? At least with Ryanair you know what your getting. From A-B in the quickest cheapest way.

    29
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Timothy Bryce
    Favourite Timothy Bryce
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 7:34 PM

    A hidden charges from an airline, oh no, the humanity. Are you ok?

    34
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ian Walsh
    Favourite Ian Walsh
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 10:16 PM

    If you wait to checkin 24 hours before your flight you can pick your sear for free. Also, Ryanair charge you to select certain seats, otherwise its cattle scrum at boarding time.

    14
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ian Walsh
    Favourite Ian Walsh
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 10:23 PM

    *seat

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Frances Faller
    Favourite Frances Faller
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 5:01 PM

    I hope Google wont start charging like Ryanair, now that Michael is involved with them.

    25
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Huboy De Kiiiid
    Favourite Huboy De Kiiiid
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 5:03 PM

    you’ve just searched google images, google images is a premium site, we’ve taken the charge from your phone, thank you.

    34
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Hedley Lamarr
    Favourite Hedley Lamarr
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 6:14 PM

    E5 Extra charge for the use of WWW. and .Com, New Googleair.

    22
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Peace for All
    Favourite Peace for All
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 7:07 PM

    Googleingus

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Thomas O' Donnell
    Favourite Thomas O' Donnell
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 10:41 PM

    Sounds like an STD!

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Trudy Taaffe
    Favourite Trudy Taaffe
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 8:45 PM

    Ryanair being tight-lipped!! Never thought I’d see the day!

    19
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Huboy De Kiiiid
    Favourite Huboy De Kiiiid
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 5:02 PM

    A bit unfair of google to be geting involved with something like this isn’t it? I’m sure that they can blow the competition out of the water given googles huge resources and there buddies in the NSA.

    Mr google ‘Michael, we have the NSA on our side’.

    Mr ryanair ‘er, so do we’.

    14
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Wolf Pack
    Favourite Wolf Pack
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 5:09 PM

    What are you on about?

    117
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Hippocrateeth
    Favourite Hippocrateeth
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 5:16 PM

    Not to mention Ryanair’s well documented bed-sharing with the execs in the NFA and the LRN.

    8
    See 3 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Begrudgy
    Favourite Begrudgy
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 5:19 PM
    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Swan
    Favourite John Swan
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 5:58 PM

    Anyone talking down Google’s involvement with the NSA scandal doesn’t know about the NSA scandal. They’ll just add the passenger information to their massive database in Utah.

    19
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Seweryn Sapinski
    Favourite Seweryn Sapinski
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 10:30 PM

    “I’ll do anything for money, but I won’t do that”?

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Aodhan O Cuana
    Favourite Aodhan O Cuana
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 6:45 PM

    Great news; now let’s go transfer-global and get the economy f*cking rocking! But remember O’Leary is only good at airlines; let’s leave him there. Human nature and stuff like that; well he doesn’t have the skills!!

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Peace for All
    Favourite Peace for All
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 7:05 PM

    You are hugely underestimating Michael O’Learys understanding of Human nature and his skills.

    25
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute byrondenis
    Favourite byrondenis
    Report
    Jan 14th 2014, 1:04 AM

    Two great companies, no unions, what’s not to like :)

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Barry O Rourke
    Favourite Barry O Rourke
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 7:28 PM

    Im hoping it involves O Leary “blowing” his brains out in a public spectacle..we can all watch his smirk fly through the air one last time

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tony Canning
    Favourite Tony Canning
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 7:38 PM

    Because suicide is funny? Nice one Barry – really classy.

    53
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mark Malee
    Favourite Mark Malee
    Report
    Jan 14th 2014, 8:31 AM

    Ryanair is like golf! Looks good in the air but lands nowhere near the green!!

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute chris
    Favourite chris
    Report
    Jan 14th 2014, 5:10 AM

    Skyscanner don’t charge anything it’s just price comparison from all airlines

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute bernard r malone
    Favourite bernard r malone
    Report
    Jan 13th 2014, 10:41 PM

    That shirt is worn out Michael

    2
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel

 
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds