1. 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 irresponsible pet

2. Josh Jones
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