ASAI has received complaints regarding an advertisement, concerning COVID-19 and public health, first published on Friday, 16 October. The ASAI's Code of Standards for Advertising and Marketing Communications in Ireland applies to commercial marketing communications (Section 2.1). In this case, the advertised material contains content on an issue of public concern. Additionally, the Code does not apply to marketing communications whose principle purpose is to express the advertiser's position on, amongst other things, political, social matter or on an issue of public interest or concern (Section 2.3(f)).

Arising from the above, the advertisement as a whole is specifically excluded from the remit of the ASAI Code. The ASAI is not, therefore, in a position to assess or investigate complaints about this advertisement