WELLINGTON, Thursday: The Advertising Standards Authority has released its annual report for 2018 – a year in which it dealt with 1338 enquiries, including 820 formal complaints about 425 advertisements.
Just under half of the complaints related to misleading claims in advertisements and 35% of complaints were concerns about the social responsibility of advertisements.
Therapeutic and health products & services led the complaints by category, followed by food & beverages and household goods advertising. Complaints about television advertising led the media category, followed by advertiser websites and digital advertising (including social media).
“With advertising evolving at an ever-increasing pace, the value of the ASA as a platform-neutral regulator is clear.”
The list includes brief details of the five most complained-about ads …
- Waves NZ (anti-vaccine) billboard (man + baby + risk talk)
- Breast Cancer Foundation tvc (mother + daughter)
- Berlei Bras tvc (uncomfortable bras)
- Burger King tvc (BBQ in a vehicle)
- Fuoride-Free NZ print ad (public lecture)
Not all were upheld (scroll down to access the PDF).
The report highlights the work of the ASA as the regulator of all ads in all media.
Significant projects included the launch of the Advertising Standards Code, a substantial consolidation of six codes into one to support responsible advertising and the end of a five-year project to move from 14 codes of practice to a total of six.
The ASA also launched the AdHelp Information Service, a user-pays service to help advertisers and agencies with compliance.
“In a world where advertising is evolving at an ever-increasing pace, the value of the ASA as a platform-neutral, responsive and robust regulator to set standards and assess compliance is clear,” says the press statement.
- Download the annual report: www.asa.co.nz/asa-annual-report
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