Top 10 most controversial ads

AD BREAKDOWN
The Magazine's review of advertising

A record number of adverts were complained about in 2006, the Advertising Standards Authority has said. The subjects which annoyed people, including the portrayal of same-sex kisses, religion and knives, reveals something of modern day concerns.

Advertising complaints can be an interesting barometer of public sensibilities. In the 1970s, an ASA report from the time said, it was "sex depravity, pornography and general sleaziness" which offended. Nowadays, even with advertising which is often far more explicit than 1970s standards, the range of subjects which offends people has changed somewhat.

Here are the top 10 adverts of 2006 by volume of complaints and the ASA's decision on them.

1. GAY POLICE ASSOCIATION - 553 COMPLAINTS

This advert was the most complained about in 2006. It was a national press ad which pictured a Bible and a claim from the Gay Police Association of a link between homophobic attacks and religious motivation. Several Christian groups complained about the advert, saying it was offensive to them and discriminatory in tone.

The ASA upheld the complaints, saying that it was indeed offensive, was misleading in its suggestion that all incidents involved physical injury and in statistical claims which were never proved to the ASA.

The most complained about advert in 2005 was by KFC and featured people in a call centre singing with their mouths full. It received more than three times as many complaints.

Complaints upheld

2.HM REVENUE AND CUSTOMS - 271 COMPLAINTS

This was also a press advert, and depicted what seemed to be a self-employed plumber evading tax by hiding under the kitchen sink. This offended manyself-employed people and plumbers in particular who said theadvert made them look like tax evaders.

A spokesman for the Federation of Small Businesses said the advert "tars all of the UK's 2.72 million self-employed people with the same brush". HM Revenue and Customs apologised and amended the advert after the complaints, but the ASA concluded that most people would not actually have drawn the unfair conclusion about the self-employed.

Complaints not upheld

3. DOLCE & GABBANA - 166 COMPLAINTS

If it was depravity that offended in the 1970s, one new concern from 2006 was the glamorisation of knives. This D&G advert, which again appeared in the press rather than on television, appeared opposite a news article about a knife crime.

D&G protested at the complaints, saying that the ads were "highly stylised" and inspired by well-known Napoleonic paintings. But the ASA held them to be "socially irresponsible and offensive".

Complaints upheld

4. MOTOROLA - 160 COMPLAINTS

This is more of the same theme - and another appearance for D&G whose joint advert with Motorola, complainants said, "condoned knife-related violence" and "glamorised sexual violence". Motorola's defence was that it was highly stylised and clearly a pun on the tagline 'The cutting edge of technology', and that it did not glamorise violence. In this case the ASA agreed, saying that most newspaper readers would appreciate the ad's intention.

Complaints not upheld

5. CARPHONE WAREHOUSE - 145 COMPLAINTS

The familiar Carphone Warehouse adverts riled customers and competitors, particularly claims that its service would be "free forever". The ASA agreed that the advert was misleading and that "the availability of the service was insufficiently explained".

Complaints upheld


6. FRENCH CONNECTION - 127 COMPLAINTS

French Connection - a company which thanks to its FCUK slogan has had its run-ins with watchdogs before - ran a TV advert in which two women had a martial-arts contest, culminating in a kiss. The idea apparently was to "symbolise the competition between fashion and style". The ASA decided that despite the complaints of violence, it was clear that the fight was highly stylised and did not reflect criminal assault. The kiss was also fine, they said, and in any case the advert was being shown after the watershed.

Complaints not justified

7. CHANNEL 5 - 99 COMPLAINTS

Five ran a teaser poster campaign saying that "nothing good ever came out of America". The conclusion of the campaign was to highlight American films and TV programmes, but some people complained that the teaser was racist towards Americans and socially irresponsible in that it could incite racial violence. The ASA disagreed. (Channel 5 also appeared in last year's top 10, for a fake dossier advertising CSI:NY which was sent through the post purporting to claim there was a serial killer on the loose.)

Complaints not upheld

8. KELLOGG'S - 96 COMPLAINTS

Objections to a Kellogg's television ad featuring a man riding a dog (to get home in time to eat Crunchy Nut) claimed that it portrayed cruelty to animals and would encourage viewers to try the same stunt at home. Kellogg's responded that the ad was clearly surreal in nature, no dog was actually ridden during filming and that the advert wasn't being shown before the watershed, so children would not copy it. Viewers were also warned not to try it at home.

Complaints not upheld

9. NATIONAL FEDERATION OF CYPRIOTS - 93 COMPLAINTS

This was an advertising feature in the regional press. It drew complaints from a human rights organisation which was concerned it was offensive to the Turkish community and likely to incite racial hatred. Complaints were not upheld, except for a challenge that it was not sufficiently clear that it was advertising material.

Complaints upheld

10. DOLCE & GABBANA - 89 COMPLAINTS

Something of a theme emerges here - with D&G and the politics of same-sex relations appearing three times each in the top 10. D&G's TV ad showed a brief kiss between two men, and was followed by complaints that it was unsuitable for children to see, and some that it was unsuitable to show at any time. The regulators decided that to be appropriate it was only necessary that the advert not be shown around programmed aimed specifically at children.

Complaints not upheld

Ad Breakdown is compiled by Giles Wilson