Increase In Advertising Complaints

During 1995 the ITC dealt with 3,432 complaints about 1,204 different advertisements and upheld complaints in relation to 57 ads. This compares with 3,317 complaints in 1994 about 1,084 advertisements with 52 ads where complaints were upheld. However, a larger number of complaints than usual were received towards the end of the year and carried forward into 1996.

The ITC point out that senior figures in the advertising industry in 1995 expressed concern about a deliberately aggressive and abrasive trend in advertising: they believe that this can have a negative effect, particularly on viewers not within a campaign’s target audience. The twelve most complained of television ads in 1995, 1% of all those complained of, attracted 809 complaints, 23.5% of the total. In all these cases the issue was offence.

The percentage of complaints alleging misleadingness remained fairly stable at 28% (30% in 1994), as did the proportion of advertisements complained of for the same reason, 46.5% of ads which attracted complaint as opposed to 50% in 1994. The percentage of advertisements about which complaints were upheld in this category rose, from 5.5% in 1994 to 6.4% in 1995 (compared with6.5% and 6.8% in 1993 and 1992 respectively).

The five most complained about adverts in 1995 were :

1. Sun Alliance – 214 compaints: viewers objected both to the imagery (which could be seen as violent or shocking) and questioned the relevance to the project advertised. Complaints not upheld.
2. Neutralia Shower Gel – 115 complaints: viewers objected to the shot of a female nipple. Complaints not upheld.
3. Peperami – 73 complaints: aggressive imagery found to be offensive. Complaints not upheld.
4. McDonalds – 69 complaints: viewers objected to the image of a young boy engineering a meeting between his estranged parents in a McDonalds restaurant. Complaint not upheld.
5. Whitbread Flowers Ale – 57 complaints. Viewers objected to scenes alludingto environmental, animal and other issues.

The ITC recognised that the deliberate employment of “bad taste” for humorous purposes had inherent problems, but did not uphold the complaint.