1 in 3 Australians has recently seen advertising they found unacceptable: report
Ad Standards, Australia’s advertising complaints adjudicator, has released new research providing some insight into community perceptions of advertising and what Australians consider acceptable and unacceptable in advertising content.
The research, conducted in late 2021, shows that while Australians are happy seeing more inclusivity and diversity in advertising, 1 in 3 Australians has recently seen advertising they found unacceptable.
“Ad Standards gives a voice to community concerns and guides industry in creating ads that meet community standards – but those standards change over time,” Ad Standards executive director Richard Bean said.
“This research, combined with our own complaints data, provides us with valuable insights into what Australians consider acceptable and what are the key areas of community concern.”
The research revealed that more than half of Australians are concerned about the use of sexual appeal in advertising. Other concerns include advertising targeting children, the content of gambling ads and brands trying to be controversial or offensive to stand out.
While 1 in 20 Australians say they have made a formal complaint about advertising, 8 in 10 Australians agree that it’s important for advertising to have a set of rules they must follow and 3 in 4 agree that the role of Ad Standard is important.
“It is pleasing to see that there is strong support for the advertising industry rules and that the community sees the role Ad Standards plays as an important one – handling complaints and guiding industry in creating ads that are socially responsible,” Bean said.
The research also tested whether past decisions made by the Ad Standards Community Panel align with current community views in relation to the sections of the AANA Code of Ethics that deal with discrimination or vilification, exploitative or degrading sexual imagery, and the portrayal of sex, sexuality and nudity.
“While the Ad Standards Community Panel is made up of Australians from all walks of life and reflects the diversity of Australian society, we regularly compare their decisions on key areas of community concern with a representative sample of Australians to inform future decision making,” Bean said.
The results show the Community Panel and general community strongly agree about depictions of discrimination, while views on sexual imagery are less clear cut with perspectives differing markedly by gender and age.
“As might be expected, the community can be divided and sometimes undecided about sensitive issues,” Bean said.
“As an independent and diverse group of Australians, the Ad Standards Community Panel faces this same challenge when making a final determination. Whether complaints are upheld or dismissed can often come down to a vote. If the vote is close, the case report will reflect a range of views.”
Along with the relevant provisions in the AANA Code of Ethics, the Ad Standards Community Panel will consider these research insights and the latest community views when making determinations.
To view a summary of the research visit adstandards.com.au
The real facts in this report…
Great to see the Ad Standards Board showing that the public want better management of diversity and inclusion, and these issues also show that stereotypes are at play. The big finding here is that “1 in 3 people think advertising is unacceptable” and that means the self-regulation system is actually failing us despite the positive spin in this article/release. 33% of the population is huge and then apply that to the harm in society that’s unacceptable to me.
Note that the survey actually shows in the answer to this question “I rarely see advertisements that I find unacceptable” as 51% which means that 49% not 33% find advertisements unacceptable.
The trouble with this survey is that they are asking what a biased community want; and that doesn’t always show the real problem under-lining our societal issues like domestic violence, bullying and mental health problems attributed to portrayal of stereotypes in media, marketing and advertising. The community is blind to the problem and therefore not necessarily equipped to answer direct research questioning like this.
This report is useful, but is candy-coating the bigger issues and missing the point. This is making the decision about what is considered harmful or what needs to be addressed based on a biased community and not being proactive at resolving the issues properly. Time to review the way this research is conducted so that is without a vested interest in the findings.
Findings that are NOT promoted in the press release and glossed over in this report:
– 49% of people find advertising they see unacceptable (not 33%)
– 55% find advertising is not in line with community standards
– 28% of people don’t want stereotypes in advertising (but a large percentage have unconscious bias and don’t even know what they are looking for so this can’t be complete and will only get worse if bias was measured as part of the research)
– 1 in 20 Australian’s have made a complaint about advertising but a majority of people who have complained come from certain well informed and educated sections of the community with an activist mindset, and is not necessarily open to those who are at the most risk of harm or don’t know what harm looks like yet
– 40 % of people don’t know about AdStandards and what they do
– 34% of people would complain about ads if they knew how/who to (and clearly are not informed)
– People find ads unacceptable in ways that the current code does not measure or control (also supports the number of cases the ASB rejects each year – over 1000)
– Men are less likely to complain about ads that don’t impact them but that doesn’t mean the harm isn’t there
Just making sure people read this study properly and start to really look at the role of self-regulation and the failings. With no ombudsman or government oversight the AANA is running the show here and it isn’t impartial. Just saying…
User ID not verified.
I find a lot of them more annoying than acceptable
User ID not verified.
The survey focussed on paras 2.1, 2.2, and 2.4 of the stds but not 2.3 Violence. A lot of scary trailers ( ads on TV) get complaints from parents whose children have been disturbed by them. They get dismissed because they are scary but not violent. The stds are deficient here and need to be remedied.
User ID not verified.
Have your say