Sexuality and nudity, violence and discrimination or vilification are the most complained about issues with advertising, according to theAd Standards Review of Operations for 2022.
More than 2600 complaints were lodged, a decline from 2021 in which 4500 were submitted.
Of the complaints, 61 ads were found in breach of one or more advertising codes.
The primary issues of concern were sexuality and nudity, violence and discrimination or vilification.
Free-to-air TV received more than half of these complaints, followed by social media and TV on-demand.
Ad Standards executive director, Richard Bean, said a pleasing trend is the number of ads modified or removed by advertisers as soon as they are notified of a complaint.
"This occurred in almost 40 cases in 2022. The industry must also be congratulated for its strong commitment to comply with the rules and to be responsive to community concerns," he said.
The most complained about ad from 2022 was a PointsBet free-to-air TV commercial. It featured Shaquille O’Neal and the Australian comedy duo, The Inspired Unemployed, speaking in exaggerated Australian accents that O'Neal can't understand.
The main concern was of discrimination or vilification, receiving 43 complaints. Ad Standards dismissed the complaints.
The report highlighted that with community concern about climate change and sustainability growing, environmental claims have become a powerful advertising tool. Misleading claims, however, can undermine consumer trust.
Complaints under the Environmental Claims Code represented a small but growing proportion of overall complaints to Ad Standards in 2022.
2.3% of complaints raised issues regarding environmental claims, increasing from 1.37% in 2021.
Influencer marketing advertising complaints also increased to 8.34% from 2.68% the previous year. The report stated that while it’s a brand’s responsibility to ensure influencer marketing complies with the rules, not labelling content correctly can result in reputational damage to both the brand and influencer.
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