Blog from the Bog

My last email to RTÉ has been passed on to the person responsible for compliance processes. I’ll report back when I get a response. I’ve heard nothing from the ASAI yet. Not even an acknowledgment of my complaint.
In the meantime, I just can’t resist getting another word in on the subject. RTÉ say that they don’t advertise online to children and seem to think that children won’t access the RTÉ home page. I beg to differ…sometimes, their actions contradict this. Here’s an example:

Click the images to enlarge.

The page on the left is the RTÉ.ie home page at Halloween. After a few seconds the page flickered, there was an interference effect and the page was replaced by the home page on the right. An interesting, creative idea – possibly more suited to a less serious site perhaps. Not so much for a dignified broadcaster but fun none the less. It’s like RTÉ have been taken over by zombies (no comment).

The problem I have is that this is clearly aimed at youngsters and RTÉ.ie’s own rules (and ABC figures) claim that youngsters are not using this page. The page that was full of alcohol advertising not long ago. It may be a joke but making it appear that Wonka bars can be purchased at the RTÉ shop (which they can’t, I checked!) seems a little irresponsible.
Why don’t I have more of a sense of humour about this? Well, I pay license money to RTÉ, on top of that they make money from advertising, and it seems to me that they are not really accountable to anyone and should at the very least be following their own guidelines.