'We've now issued advice to advertisers suggesting they use #ad or #spon if it's not otherwise clear what the communication is.' 'The use of celebrities to endorse products or services through their own Twitter accounts has raised questions about whether it is always clear when tweets are, in fact, ads,' said Smith. Others who failed to abide by the ASA's Twitter rules include The Only Way is Essex actor Gemma Collins, who promoted hair salon chain Toni & Guy, Nike fell foul of the ASA rules for not clearly telling the public that tweets from the personal Twitter accounts of Wayne Rooney and Jack Wilshere were in fact ads. In its annual report the ASA also laid down the law on how companies can use Twitter to advertise, with Nike the first UK company to have a campaign banned from the social media service. The ASA said that the main issue with online advertising is consumers feeling they are being misled – the subject of 90% of all complaints about digital. Last year digital advertising prompted 9,754 complaints, almost a third of the watchdog's entire workload, but despite this rapid growth curve the number of complaints actually dropped by 4% year on year. Just two years after the watchdog's online advertising remit was extended to include marketing on companies' own websites and in social media, it has swiftly cemented its place as the second most complained about ad medium. 'We've required pay day loan companies to be clear about what it is they are providing and what it costs,' said Lord Smith of Finsbury, chairman of the ASA.Īlthough TV remained the most complained about advertising medium, with complaints up 6% year on year to 11,245, 2012 was very much the year that the ASA and marketers got to grips with digital advertising. The ASA has also been cracking down on the way so-called 'pay day' loan companies, such as, market their deals. Go Compare supplanted Phones 4u, which had the dubious honour of fielding the most complained about ad (with 659) in the ASA's 2011 list of shame. Gypsier' poster ad for Big Fat Gypsy Weddings – the ASA ruled that neither commercial broke the UK advertising code. A second ad featuring Sue Barker in a balaclava shooting the irritating tenor with a bazooka also provoked complaints that it was offensive and inappropriately trivialised war and terrorism.ĭespite the huge number of complaints about the Go Compare campaign – third on the list, with 373, was Channel 4's controversial 'Bigger. Viewers took particular exception to an ad featuring former England player Stuart Pearce kicking a football into the opera singer's stomach. took the first two spots in the ASA's top 10 most complained about ads of 2012 list, notching up 1,805 complaints. In 2012 the rise in grievances against financial services ads in general – from 2,279 to 4,239 year on year – was almost entirely attributable to the price comparison website's annoying tenor Gio Compario.

Annoying tv commercials to get scrutiny