We have received and reviewed communications that were emailed to us in which views were shared relating to the Proctor & Gamble advertisement “Tampax and Tea” and the decision of the ASAI independent Complaints Committee on complaints made about the ad.
Each communication received has been reviewed and considered by us. Commentary included disagreement and disappointment with the decision and requests included that the decision would be reviewed, reversed or that the ad would be reinstated.
Decisions on complaints are made in accordance with the ASAI Code. In this context, the Board of the ASAI have no role in either complaint assessment, investigation or adjudication. The Complaints Committee are the body responsible for complaint adjudication and they act independently of the Board and the ASAI Executive. The Complaints Committee is made up of a diverse gender and age balanced group representing broad areas of Irish society.
The decision of the Complaints Committee reflects their assessment of the complaints, the advertisers’ response and the Code requirements. In this instance the Complaints Committee considered that the ad was not in compliance with the Code. A copy of the decision and the related ASAI statement can be found on our website (https://www.asai.ie/note/asai-decision-on-the-tampax-and-tea-advertisement/).
The ASAI Code sets out a comprehensive process for requesting a review of a decision which has been made by the Complaints Committee. Any review conducted is undertaken by a totally separate and independent Review Panel. In line with European equivalent best practice , the right to apply for a review is open to the parties to the original complaint(s) , that is:
• The advertiser; and/or
• The original complainant(s)
The parties were informed about the Review Process when the Complaints Committee’s final decision was communicated to them and the parties have chosen not to apply for a review. The Complaints Committee’s decision will therefore not be reviewed and the decision remains that the ad should not run in the same format again.
Advertising that is found in breach of the Code can be published again if it is amended to bring it into compliance with the Code. The ASAI Executive is always available to work with and assist advertisers in attempting to bring advertisement into compliance with the Code
The ASAI’s continued objective is to ensure that all ads are legal, decent, honest and truthful and, over almost 40 years of operation, we have dealt with over 36,000 complaints. As a founding member of EASA, the European Advertising Standards Alliance, that has a network of 54 similar organisations worldwide, we are committed, along with other members, to an evolving, robust and coherent system of advertising self-regulation that can respond effectively to a constantly changing media and marketing environment.
We would like to thank those who submitted comments to us and for taking the time to engage with us.
ASAI Executive
18 August 2020