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Bulletin: 21/3
Batch: 271
Reference: 36295
Product: Burglar Alarm Systems
Advertiser: Safe Personal Alarm
Influencer:
Agency:
Medium: Online (3rd party)
Codes:
ASAI Code 7th Edition: 2.4(c), 3.10, 3.23, 4.1, 4.4
The first advertisement stated:
“Police Say To Carry This. Police say everyone should carry this new safety device that protects against attackers. TrySafePersonalAlarm.com”
The second advertisement stated:
“Dublin: Recent Attacks On Seniors Prompt Police To Issue Public Safety Alert, Urging Older Residents To Carry New Safety Device
After a recent increase of attacks on seniors, local police are urging older residents to carry a tiny new safety device that can easily be used against attackers.
It was just a normal day at the grocery store for Ruth Miller, a 63 year old woman from Dublin, Leinster... until everything went horribly wrong.
She had just left the store carrying her grocery bags, and was walking to her car when the unthinkable happened.
"I wasn't parked too far away, it was about a 60 second walk or so to my car from the store," she remembers, "and I kind of had that feeling I was being watched."
Right as she was unlocking her car, a man quickly came up behind her and tried to grab her.
"He told me 'don't fight, give me your wallet!' as he tried to wrestle my purse away. I was in shock. Luckily for me I remembered I had my Safe Personal alarm on my purse, and since I was too scared to scream for help, I quickly reached for the alarm and pulled the pin."
"Immediately my Safe Personal alarm started just screaming. I mean it was REALLY SCREAMING. He didn't know what to do! He froze for a second, then ran away like a bat out of hell! People heard the alarm and started yelling and running over to help. They said it was the Safe Personal Alarm that got their attention."
While Ruth was lucky enough to be carrying a Safe personal alarm, allowing her to escape her attacker unscathed, others weren't so lucky...
In the month of January alone, police have reported a dramatic increase in attacks targeting seniors, with many suffering serious injuries and financial loss.
"This trend of targeting seniors is deeply disturbing, but it's a harsh reality we have to deal with. It is absolutely imperative that our elderly residents stay on high alert and protect themselves by carrying a personal alarm."
After her attack, Ruth bought the Safe Personal Alarm for her sisters, daughters, grandchildren and all of her friends. People often attach it to purses, keys and backpacks.
"After the attack, I immediately bought 10 more Safe Personal Alarms for all of my friends and family. Now I know the people I care about most will be safe."
The complainant said they were looking at the death notices on an Irish obituary website when the pop-up advertisement appeared advertising Personal alarms. They said they clicked into the pop-up and were brought to a second advertisement. They said that the second advertisement gave the impression that the woman mentioned was attacked in the complainant’s local town. They said they rang the guards and asked them if there was trouble in town and was told no. They said after some research it appeared that the incident happened in America or Canada. They said it was a computer-generated advertisement and popped up all over the place.
The complainant said they found it scary even though they have very good security but said they were also thinking of the more fragile people among us.
The advertisers failed to provide a response to the complaint.
Complaint Upheld
The Complaints Committee considered the details of the complaint and the advertisers’ response and expressed concern at the advertisers’ failure to respond to the complaint. They reminded them that there is an onus on advertisers to ensure that their advertising is in conformity with the Code.
In the absence of a response from SAFEPERSONALALARM Inc. the Committee concluded that the advertisement was in breach of Code sections 3.10, 3.23, 4.1 and 4.4.
ACTION REQUIRED:
The advertisement must not reappear in its current form.