Complaints against ads reaches record high with discrimination the biggest issue
The number of complaints submitted to the Ad Standards Bureau last year nearly doubled to a record 5,735 with discrimination the most touchy-subject for the public, the ad watchdog’s 2014 Review of Operations report has revealed.
Complaints against 515 ads were considered by the board, with another 30 withdrawn from circulation by advertisers before it got to that stage. Of these 62 were found to be in breach of the AANA Code of Ethics, with only three advertisers refusing to pull their ads when a complaint was upheld.
Discrimination and vilification accounted for 27.61 per cent of complaints, with the “ick” factor in ads created with the category of “other” responsible for 16.61 per cent of complaints.
Three ads for MyPlates were in the top ten most complained about ads for 2014, with its spot of a man picking his nose and wiping it on a car door attracting 206 complaints in fourth place while a pixilated version of the same ad was down in seventh place with 180 complaints.
This is always going to be a difficult area. Give the public (any group) a complaint button, and there will be no shortage of individuals who are willing to press it.
Racial vilification, is certainly possible, but it is unlikely to get on air in an advert in the first place. When ever a comment or observance includes anything that might be misconstrued as racial vilification, then it will be seized upon vigorously; especially by those who are, for whatever reason, politically motivated.
I am alarmed by the number of individuals who shout ”racism,” whenever comic differences in our ethnicity are noted and applied to comedy. It is our differences that make us interesting or news worthy, and yes, even funny.
In my opinion, the Asian man attempting to direct cows, is a very fine example of a well thought out production, a business man in a suit, who is obviously from another culture and another set of disciplines, is out of place on an Aussie dairy farm.
The fact that we balk at his being Asian, is in itself a racist statement.
Imagine a modern Asian office building with delicate Asian customs, and modern office electronics. Enter an Aussie dairy Farmer with a set of milking teats, a half roll of wire and a couple of fencing posts.
“Some businesses have no business running Asian communications, Asian Communication Infrastructure, proudly run by Asian communication executives.”
The obvious differences, make it funny and also make the point.