KENNY CALLS FOR CHANGE OF RULES SURROUNDING BILLBOARD ADVERTISING

Posted on July 5, 2012 3:26 PM   |   Permanent Link   

Dublin North East Labour Party TD Seán Kenny today said that there was a need for a review and also a change to the regulations surrounding advertising, particularly advertising on billboards that are seen around cities and towns.

"I have had numerous complaints over the past few weeks from people who have been upset at the confrontational nature of certain advertising conducted by Youth Defence that have appeared on billboards around Dublin. People have been telling me that when they complained to the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland, ASAI, they were informed that the advertising campaign was outside the remit of the ASAI because the organisation behind the advertisements is non-commercial. Similarly, the National Consumer Agency and ComReg have indicated the matter is outside their remit.

"I think that this is unacceptable and that the rules surrounding advertising by non-commercial entities needs to be changed, particularly when such advertisements are offensive, misleading and amount to false advertising. I believe that the Youth Defence ads are all of these, and should not be carried on billboards. he advertisements concern the very highly sensitive issue of abortion and feature a caption which reads 'abortion tears her life apart'. They also depict a picture of a foetus and I would fear that the words and imagery concerning such a sensitive issue will be seen by very young children who really should not be exposed to the issue from an advertising billboard.

"Some issues are just too sensitive to be aired in such a fashion and I would call on the Minister for Communications, Pat Rabbitte, to initiate a review of the regulations surrounding advertising on billboards and to change them where it is required."