Josh Jones

Advertising Standards Agency (ASA)

The ASA is an independent organisation that ensures that television advertisements in the United Kingdom are truthful, decent, honest and legal. They work alongside a government department called the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and Ofcom to ensure that when adverts are made, that they follow regulations which the ASA regularly adjusts for the benefit of consumers. They also make sure that any complaints that are received are dealt with as quickly as possible and action is taken against any company that doesn’t play by the rules.

The ASA is funded by a levy on advertisement spending. The levy is collected at arms’ length to ensure that the ASA’s independence is maintained. It is collected by them on behalf of two external organisations. The Advertising Standards Board of Finance (ASBOF) and (BASBOF) The Broadcast Advertising Standards Board of Finance.

The main aims of the Advertising Codes (rules) are to ensure that all advertisements that get broadcast on television are truthful, honest, decent and legal and that there are no aspects that may cause offend to certain types of people such as the disabled. The code itself comes in 32 sections with individual legislation for every possible type of advert.

The ASA only needs to receive one complaint for it to launch an investigation into that particular advertisement.

What makes adverts controversial is their content and intended message. Many people misinterpret both but sometimes complaints are necessary. The most controversial advert of 2010 was one from Paddy Power showing blind footballers kicking a cat around on the pitch which got 1313 complaints. The advert was allowed to be broadcast with the ASA claiming that ‘’it was surreal and light hearted in tone’’. Mocking the disabled and condoning kicking cats around is not light hearted, it’s simply wrong.

The second most criticised advert with 1088 complaints was Marie Stopes. It gave advice on sexual and reproductive health and services. The complaints came through misinterpretations of the adverts message and a lot of people thought it was promoting abortion but really it was offering impartial advice on every alternative.

The Department for Energy and Climate change were next in the firing line as it showed a father reading his daughter a bedtime fairytale story about climate change. It was believed to be ‘’scaremongering’’ which I think is true because we can’t make many predictions about the future that can be set in stone so the advert seemed too unrealistic.

John Lewis made a Christmas advert which showed a young boy hanging a stocking on his dogs kennel then left the dog outside in harsh weather conditions. This links back to the animal cruelty portrayal theme but this time shows

Josh Jones

irresponsible pet ownership, which is true but there are two sides to the argument, the boys parents could have got him to bring the dog inside and the boy appears to be young so at that age he may not fully understand how to look after a dog the way people say you should. These allegations were disputed by the ASA.

Complaints about the Oven Pride advert were mainly due to gender stereotypes but through voice over and not visual content. The voiceover said ‘’so easy even a man can do it’’. This tries to suggest men have poor domestic abilities because traditional theories suggest that is the case. However this is the 21st century and men can do housework. It was meant to be ‘’light hearted’’ but some people both male and female made complaints which I feel were somewhat justified.

Marmite made two advertisements, a pro-marmite and anti-Marmite campaign based on a political debate theme. The pro-Marmite campaign is fine because it gives reference to it’s delicious taste and B vitamins. However the anti-Marmite campaign basically criticises it’s own product and segregates consumers of the product making them out to be bad people just because they like Marmite. The ASA told the company to rethink its marketing approach which is fair enough because the ‘’you either love it or hate it’’ slogan is something that makes Marmite memorable