Advertising standards and the level of complaints received in 2012

This year the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland (ASAI) and the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) received a record number of complaints. Over 2000 complaints were received in the 12 month period. 

This represents an increase from the average 1500 complaints received yearly.

The highly controversial Paddy Power advertisement ‘Ladies Day at Cheltenham’, topped the pole. This advertisement posed a question to its viewers to spot whether the women in the advertisement were born female or were transgendered. The catch line for this advertisement was “Separate the stallions from the mares”.  This video was withdrawn prior to determination of the case, however it’s still available on Youtube.

Other advertisements that encountered complaints were a nightclub’s Facebook campaign and billboards opposing abortion.

As these boards have limited scope to deal with areas such as political and religious advertising there is likely to be reform in advertising standards this year with investigations already in place.

This poses the question:  Is the value of creating a non-traditional “controversial advertising campaign” outweighing the traditional medium of advertising. It certainly appears so!

Giants such as Paddy Power revel at the idea of media attention and controversy. Power said himself that he “makes no apology for pulling all the stops and building the brand around gimmicks and ads to amuse people and earn media attention”.

The success attached to such controversial campaigns is likely to increase the amount of complaints received year on year which leaves with the question: Will advertising standards solve this or drive further media attention?

Stephen King (Marketing Advisor) 07/01/13