This article is from page 15 of the 2008-05-13 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 15 JPG
ROAD WORKERS with Clare Coun- ty Council and other local authorities are entitled to our respect but instead _Nuom EDU amcecD eet oms Koyus w len (C00 (on
That’s the view of Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) who expressed disappointment that the Advertising Standards Au- thority reyected a complaint by Clare County Council over an Irish Pride TV advertisement depicting a lazy road worker.
The council lodged its complaint on foot of a motion tabled by Cllr Ar- kins on the basis that it “stereotyped and derided a council worker”.
Reacting to the ASA decision, Cllr Arkins said that if the ad featured a coloured person, a non-national or it was directed at women, he was sure the complaint would have been up- held.
He said the advert shows a man fill- ing a hole in the road and it was quite obvious that the person could only be a council worker as no one else does that kind of work.
“It 1s quite pointed. It is a very dangerous occupation being a road worker with cars going past you at 60mph.
“Tt is a difficult job and if there is flooding or any other emergency, it is
the council worker who gets out of his bed at 2am or 3am in the morning to deal with it.
“Tt is obvious that the council work- ers don’t have the respect of the Ad- vertising Standards Authority and I’m disappointed that the complaint didn’t end up with a rap on the knuck- les for Irish Pride.”
He said he was glad the matter was investigated by the ASA and that it did not appear to be running any- more.
In the ASA case report, the adver- tiser responds by stating that they wanted to illustrate the concept of Irish Pride in a humorous and light
hearted way and took individuals from all walks of life, at work or at home and showed what happened when people did not take pride in something they have done.
They said that it was never their intention to make any social or po- litical comment and that the adver- tisement was a light hearted way to dramatise individual demonstrations of lack of pride.
The Complaints Committee did not uphold the complaint, noting that the advert specifically referred to a guy and not to a local authority worker.
The ASA report concluded: “No further action required”.