Ad Standards have revealed the most complained about advertisements in 2021, so far.
Taking out the first place is an ad that boldly appeared on free-to-air TV.
The ad showed a man peeing on a building, obviously, it was a commercial for an online domain provider, Crazy Domain.
According to Ad Standards, 283 complaints were made.
Complainants raised several issues including, suggestions of nudity, unhygienic behaviour and discrimination against men.
The complaints were upheld and the ad was removed.
However, it is still available on youtube.
Coming in second is the Aussie broadband ad.
Which featured the word ‘bloody’ quite a bit.
To be fair, the ad kept repeating the phrase, “bloody good broadband.”
The ad wasn’t just throwing around the word ‘bloody’ with no context.
Still, 74 complaints were made in total.
The issues of concern were discrimination or vilification, language and health and safety.
Mostly the complainants had issues with the word ‘bloody’ and the man in the advert appearing to not be the sharpest tool in the shed.
However, their concerns were dismissed.
Coming in third place is an ad by the South Australian Police.
The advertisement follows a young man drink-driving home from a pub. In his interior monologue, he can be heard calling himself a ‘selfish prick’ for drink-driving.
The ad received 47 complaints, with the complainants unhappy about the language used.
Their complaints were ultimately dismissed.
Overall, Ad Standards has received 2,245 complaints this year, with 639 of these contributing to the 162 cases assessed by the community panel under one or more of the advertising codes and initiatives.
This year’s list of advertisements received 496 complaints between them, the lowest recorded in the history of Ad Standards’ reporting on mid-year case and complaint statistics.
Seventeen advertisements have already been withdrawn this year after advertisers voluntarily modified or discontinued the offending content.
These combined measures seem to indicate advertiser’s continued support for and compliance with the advertising self-regulatory system.
