most complained about ad's 2008

December 31, 2008

It's that time of the year again when the Advertising Standards Bureau put out the top 10 most complained about ad's for 2008. While this year I can kind of agree to them on the brochure from the "Tell the Truth Coalition", picturing aborted foetuses. The rest are still pretty tongue in cheek!

Discrimination and vilification, language, sexuality and nudity, social values and violence are all issues which concerned complainants in this year’s most complained about advertisements.
ASB Chief Executive Officer, Ms Fiona Jolly said the advertisements in this year’s ‘top ten’ were from several mediums including television, outdoor and print.

“Our top ten includes ads which complainants said caused them distress.The community has a high level of concern about ads which could inadvertently cause distress to their children and to themselves,” Ms Jolly said.

Ms Jolly said of the ten most complained about ads, three were found to be in breach of the AANA Code of Ethics and have been discontinued, with a fourth advertisement withdrawn by the advertiser before it was considered by the Advertising Standards Board.

“We have a robust advertising complaints system that gives consumers a voice and allows us to keep advertising in Australia at a high standard,” Ms Jolly said.

“This year we launched a public education campaign to highlight to people that there is somewhere they can raise their concerns about any advertising. Since the launch, the number of complaints to the ASB has continued to climb,” she said.

Ms Jolly said that the number of total complaints was higher than last year, as was the number of advertisements complained about. The Advertising Standards Bureau received complaints about more than 540 advertisements from all mediums. More than 2,350 complaints were received.

“This year, as in previous years, all advertisers have complied with Advertising Standards Board decisions. I applaud advertisers for consistent support of the system,” Ms Jolly said.

“In 2009 we will continue to work with advertisers and other industry bodies to maintain a healthy balance between the rights of industry to advertise its products and the protection of consumers against inappropriate or offensive content.

Advertisements considered by the Advertising Standards Board during 2008 can be viewed on the ASB website www.adstandards.com.au under ‘Case Reports’. The list of the ten most complained about advertisements follows.

Click here for Australia’s most complained about ads for 2008 – the ones we could find references to. Let us know what you think.

Check out 2008 most complained about ads here