Advertisment
Four radio advertisements for the play “Minding Frankie” stated:
Advertisement 1:
“Who will love my daughter when I’m gone? A caring alcoholic or a social worker with a heart of stone. It’s Stella’s choice in Maeve Binchy’s Minding Frankie.
The Gaiety Theatre is proud to present the world premiere production of Minding Frankie, for 2 weeks only from this Tuesday June 6th.
“Huge charm”, Sunday Independent
Maeve Binchy’s Minding Frankie, tickets available now.
Entertainment updates on RTÉ Radio 1”
Advertisement 2:
For the first time a Maeve Binchy novel is brought to life on stage. The Gaiety Theatre is proud to present the world premiere production of Minding Frankie, for 2 weeks only from this Tuesday June 6th.
“Huge charm”, Sunday Independent
“Outstanding character actors”, Irish Mail on Sunday
“Competing for the best comic times in the business”, The Sunday Times
Maeve Binchy’s Minding Frankie, tickets available now.
Entertainment updates on RTÉ Radio 1”
Advertisement 3:
“Who will love my daughter when I’m gone? A caring alcoholic or a social worker with a heart of stone. It’s Stella’s choice in Maeve Binchy’s Minding Frankie.
The world premiere production of Minding Frankie is now running at the Gaiety Theatre, must end June 17th.
“Huge charm”, Sunday Independent
Maeve Binchy’s Minding Frankie, tickets available now.
Entertainment updates on RTÉ Radio 1”
Advertisement 4:
“The world premiere production of Minding Frankie is now on at the Gaiety Theatre but must end this Saturday.
“4 stars” Sunday Business Post
“Competing for the best comic times in the business”, The Sunday Times
“Highly entertaining”, The Irish Independent
An extra matinee show has been added for this Saturday.
Maeve Binchy’s Minding Frankie at the Gaiety Theatre, full of wisdom, warmth and humour, must end this Saturday.
Entertainment updates on RTÉ Radio 1”
Complaint
The complainant considered that the claim to be the “World Premier” was misleading as he had gone to see the play in a different theatre in 2016.
Response
The advertisers stated that the production of Minding Frankie which was presented at The Gaiety Theatre from the 6th to the 17th of June 2017 was the same production that was toured in Autumn 2016 and was the World Premiere Production of the play. They said that the same Director and cast were involved in the production and it had started its tour in the Viking Theatre in September 2016 and travelled to a number of venues before playing at The Gaiety Theatre in June 2017.
They said that they had clearly stated that it was the “World Premiere Production” rather than just the “World Premiere” as they agreed that this would have been misleading. They confirmed that the production at The Gaiety Theatre was the same and single production and was a continuation of the World Premiere production tour.
Conclusion
Complaint Upheld.
The Complaints Committee considered the detail of the complaint and the advertisers’ response. The Committee noted that each advertisement had stated “World Premiere Production” and not “World Premiere” as quoted by the complainant. They considered, however, that the understanding of the term ‘premiere’ generally was that it was the first public performance of an event. They noted that while all advertisements had stated “World Premiere Production”, no reference had been made to the fact that it was a continuation of a tour and in fact, they noted that Advertisement 2 had included the phrase “for the first time”, re-enforcing the understanding by listeners that the play was being premiered at the Gaiety Theatre. In the circumstances the Committee considered that the advertisements were in breach of Sections 4.1 and 4.4 of the Code.
ACTION REQUIRED: The advertisements should not reappear in their current form again.
