Task 6

The Advertising Standards Authority, or The ASA for short, regulates the adverts in the UK. They are responsible for monitoring the adverts that air in the UK and dealing with complaints that these ads may bring. They monitor the ads because they have to be able to judge whether they have broken the rules, if the rules have been broken, they would have to contact the producers of the ad either make them change it or have it withdrawn.

According to The ASA website, you have to firstly check if it is covered by The ASA. Here, is the link that shows what The ASA covers. If it is still unclear on what it covers, you can call/text the complaint to discuss matters. If your complaint is covered then you go ahead and submit it online, telephone, text, or write to them. Someone who is relevant in handling the case should then contact you. You don’t need to worry about your name being mentioned to the advertisers that you are complaining about, so you don’t need to second-guess your decisions. Unless you’re a competitor, such as a corporation or an organisation. Once this is done, the complaint should be dealt with quickly if it is something like a small mistake or undelivered mail orders on your behalf. It wouldn’t be as simple as that if they have to conduct a formal investigation, which would obviously take longer to pursue.

When a formal investigation is being conducted, it means The ASA Council will rule on the matter. They will contact all parties that were involved (complainant, advertiser and if relevant, the broadcaster); they will then inform all of the process. The advertiser and broadcaster will be asked to provide evidence for any claims they make and is needed, to justify about why they thought the ad was appropriate. All information they receive is considered and facts of the case are placed before The ASA Council who decides whether the Advertising Code has been breached. Rulings are published in full every Wednesday and are found available to the media. When advertisers break the rules, they are expected to be amended or withdrawn, if they are not, The ASA will take the required steps to make sure the ruling is followed. The ASA take every step to make sure the process is fair, which is why they have an ‘Independent Review Procedure’ that allows complainants and advertisers to request a review for a ruling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVo8ynkZj9I

“Little Girl” Phones 4u – 2011

Complaints: 659

Reason: viewers believed the adverts to be “offensive, irresponsible and unduly distressing”

This ad by Phones 4u starts of with a women coming out of an elevator on level -3 in a car park. The car park appears to be disserted and the lights are flickering, this gives a very typical horror genre feel to it. As this woman is walking towards her car she hears a noise and abruptly turns around to find nothing, she is now running towards her car and looking back on the way. She reaches for her driver’s door and reflecting back at her in the window is a stereotypical image of a pale little girl wearing a pale blue, old fashion gown. Upon seeing this, the woman jumps and spins back around to see yet again, nothing. She rushes in to the car now and slams the door, she looks down to put her seatbelt on and as she is realigning her spine, the little girl is pressing her hands on the glass. Obviously very scared, she’s screaming, clearly accepting her fate. Unexpectedly the little girl isn’t dragging her to the pits of hell, but instead says hello. In a rather eerie, ghostly way. The girl then goes on to say “The Samsung Taco Icon is only £59.95 on pay as you go” During this scene, there is a “£59.95 when purchased with £10/£20 airtime. Full terms apply” disclaimer at the bottom of the screen. After this whole exchange, the woman is looking at this girl in bewilderment. At the end of the ad, it has a slogan “Missing Our Deals Will Haunt You”, and is read out to the viewers in yet again, a ghostly voice.

This advert could be banned because it can be deemed to disturbing to some viewers, particularly to younger viewers. This advert wouldn’t really be appropriate to have being aired before the watershed hours, as it would be more likely that children would be seeing it. Parents wouldn’t want their kids to be seeing this, as they would have to be dealing with night terrors and having to constantly reassuring them that there are no monsters coming to get them. Why make a parents’ life more difficult than it already is.

This could appeal to some peoples’ sense of humour and the theme of the ad does fit rather well with the slogan at the end. Older viewers, especially horror fans can quickly make a connection with the two. Because of this, it can help boost sales.

“We do not know the content of the complaints, but we imagine that they all run along similar lines, which is that the advert is scary, and includes the sort of imagery you might usually see in the kind of DVDs you keep away from the kids.”

Dave Neal. 2011. Phones4u ‘scary little girl’ ad is too scary for viewers. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2116549/phones4u-scary-little-girl-scary-viewers. [Accessed 22 January 15].

This supports the evidence that the main complaint was that it seemed too scary to be aired. Despite receiving around 600+ complaints, it was considered very minimal compared to the number of views it had and the positive sentiment from online in relation to the campaign outweighs the negative.

After further research, it seems that the advert was not pulled off air according to one website - Mark Sweney. 2011. Horror-themed Phones 4U advert cleared by regulator. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/dec/21/horror-themed-phones-4u-ad-cleared. [Accessed 22 January 15].

“The ASA dismissed the complaints because the restriction put on when the campaign could air "minimised the risk" of children, and in particular very young children, seeing the ad.”

And further evidence is quoted on the website

"We see the ASA's ruling as an absolute triumph to creative and impactful advertising," said Caspar Nelson, head of brand communications at Phones 4U. "The campaign has been extremely well received by a large audience who recognise the classic horror themes, get the Phones 4U sense of humour, and understand what our ads are trying to communicate."

However despite the positive outcome, PHONES 4U decided to have it run around programmes that ran after 9pm.

I am happy that it wasn’t pulled off air after further research, as the complaints were all trivial and were basically the same complaint but reworded through different people’s mouths. Although I can understand why these people had complaints, it was out weighed by the positive feedback that Phones 4U received. As the above quote has stated, it is an absolute triumph to creativity and is an impactful advert.

To summarise my main point, you can complain about an advert but don’t expect it to go your way.