Two complaints against against an advert for Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard's West Coast Cooler brand were not upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland (ASAI), according to its latest 'Complaints Bulletin'.
The advert, with the tagline 'Girls Shine On', features three young women signing along to the track 'Falling' by all-female group Haim, using a bottle of West Coast Cooler 'as a microphone'.
Both complainants argued that the women featured in the advert appeared to be underage, with one objecting to the use of the expression 'Girls Shine On' as it insinuated that those featured were girls and not women. The second complainant noted that the advert implied that the consumption of alcohol caused the women to 'come alive and start dancing', illustrating that drinking alcohol made you 'cool'.
In response, Irish Distillers stressed that the target market for the advert was 25 to 30 year old females, and rejected claims it was targeting consumers under the age of 18. A copy of the passports of each participant was supplied to the ASAI, which showed that all three were over 25.
Irish Distillers also stressed that it it clear that the 'shared appreciation of the song' and not the consumption of the alcoholic beverage that spurred them into action.
They also sought to clarify the use of 'Girls Shine On' as a tagline, describing it as a 'universal term for females', and highlighting its use in various television and film titles, such as The Calendar Girls and The Golden Girls, neither of which reference girls in an underage sense.
The ASAI did not uphold the complaints.
