Australians are becoming more critical about the standard of advertising, mostly on TV, with the Advertising Standards Board fielding complaints for more than 520 ads in 2006, up almost 33%, from 393 ads the previous year.
According to the ASB, the ten most-complained about ads in 2006 generated more than 1000 complaints, with the food and beverages sector the biggest culprit.
A TV spot for Mentos Ice Chewing Gum, which featured a man growing alien-like nipples, was last year’s most complained-about ad, attracting more than 220 complaints from members of the public.
Most of the complaints were largely about the man’s erect nipples, which grew as he chewed on the gum.
It showed various scenes in which he uses his nipples to catch a Frisbee, to hang his sunglasses on, to turn discs on a DJ’s turntable and to press a button in a lift.
However, the Board dismissed complaints against the ad, ruling it did not contain inappropriate sexual, nude or discriminating material.
The second most complained-about ad for 2006 was Quit Victoria’s Mouth Cancer anti-smoking ad.
More than 200 complaints were made to the Board about the confronting images of a woman affected by mouth cancer.
According to the ASB’s chief executive, Mark Jeanes, the level of complaints about the Mouth Cancer ad reflected an increase in objections to confronting ‘community awareness’ advertising.
“Complaints about anti-smoking, road safety and other health and safety campaigns were second only to complaints about ads for food and beverages,” Jeans added.
TV ads overwhelmingly continued to attract the highest number of complaints (86%), while approximately 60% of complaints continued to come from women.
Despite the one-third rise in the number of ads attracting complaints, The ASB Board dismissed the majority (91%) of those cases, including the spot for Mentos Gum.
