Letter from Cyclist.ie to Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland re: ASAI finding ref no. 19340 for unknown complainant regarding ‘Unilever’ presses advertorial for ‘Flora’ spread and active lifestyle

‘Cyclist.ie’ is the umbrella body for the various cycling advocacy groups throughout Ireland. We are the member for Ireland of the European Cyclists’ Federation. Our goal is to see a vast increase in the numbers of Irish people using their bike for work, shopping or socialising. The benefits of increased cycling are many: population health; personal and public cost savings; better traffic flow; environmental improvement, and better ‘liveability’ of our towns and cities. Our mission is to inform the Irish public and officialdom of these benefits, and the simple changes – engineering, education enforcement and others, required to reap them.

We write to object strongly to the recent finding of the Authority, Ref No. 19340 on the ASAI website, that an advertising feature (Unilever ‘Flora’ spread) in The Irish Daily Mail showing a family cycling in a park-like setting (not on a road) was in contravention of the Authority’s Code section 2.29. The complaint was that the group were not shown wearing helmets. The behaviour illustrated is in fact much healthier than the average Irish lifestyle, and is to be encouraged. Letter from Cyclist.ie to Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland re: ASAI finding ref no. 19340 for unknown complainant regarding ‘Unilever’ presses advertorial for ‘Flora’ spread and active lifestyle It does NOT constitute dangerous behaviour or unsafe practice, in our view. We note that motor vehicles being driven at speed are a constant inescapable feature of advertising and would challenge the Authority to show that all complaints to it regarding all examples of unsafe motoring have been justly upheld. Continue reading Decision of The Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland to require Unilever to pull its Flora advertorial in The Irish Daily Mail is regrettable →