Taste &

Decency
ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
Welcome to the ASA Schools and Colleges Resources: Taste and Decency
Here you will learn how and why advertisements are controlled in the UK to avoid
causing serious or widespread offence. The issue is often referred to as “Taste
and Decency”.
You will find examples of advertisements about which the Advertising Standards
Authority has received complaints and the decisions the Authority reached about
them.
In boxes like this one, you will find
activities written by an educational writer
to use in class or to stimulate research.

To make the best use of these resources use them in conjunction with the
ASA website, specifically our Annual Report, the Advertising Codes, Issues,
Research, Statistics and Guided Tours sections.
If you have any feedback on these resources e-mail us at
enquiries@asa.org.uk

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
With over 30 million advertisements
being produced each year,
advertisements need to contain
something that is going to make
them stand out from the rest and
attract people’s attention.
Sometimes the images and language
used in ads to attract attention can
be shocking and controversial.
Some people find ads offensive –
they can feel angry, upset, hurt or
embarrassed by ads.

A poster for clothing retailer Benetton. The

ASA received 72 complaints about this ad.
The ASA considered the ad would cause
serious or widespread offence. What do you
think?

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
The origins and meanings of offence
Offence is a late medieval word, coming from the Latin and early French word
offensus, meaning ‘to annoy’, ‘strike against’, ‘hurt’, ‘wrong’ and ‘displease’. Its
later usage – largely shared by us – is centred on the causing of pain, damage or
hurt. In other words, offence is deemed to be injurious: it wounds feelings and
values.

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
Offensive advertising is not the biggest area of complaint dealt with by the ASA.
Complaints about misleading advertising make up the largest group. Any offence caused
by ads, however, is counterproductive to the whole industry because it can undermine
the trust that consumers put into advertising and therefore reduces the possible revenue
generated by it.
Deciding when an ad should be withdrawn
Adjudicating on these complaints is a very sensitive task for the ASA and they have gone
to great lengths to forewarn advertisers of the kinds of offence they should avoid. As well
as the rules in the advertising codes related directly to taste and decency, the ASA
commissions and publishes research to find out what is and what is not generally
acceptable in terms of taste and decency.
For further detail on this go to the Research section of the ASA website and read the
document entitled Serious Offence in Non-Broadcast Advertising dated July 2002.
Summarise what gives the public most concern in this area. What do you think? What is
it, if anything, that seriously offends you in advertising in terms of taste and decency?
How does that compare, say, to your grandparents?

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
While some people find certain types of
advertisement inappropriate and think
they should not be shown, some people
don’t like being told by others what they
can and can’t see: democratic society is
based on the freedom of expression and
the right to hear other people’s ideas and
views.
So when deciding if an ad is acceptable
the Advertising Standards Authority has
to weigh up many factors. The The ASA received 88 complaints that this ad
advertising codes lay down the rules on was offensive because it advocated keeping
what’s acceptable and gives a guide to a law that banned the promotion of
the ASA and to advertisers on some of homosexuality in Scottish schools. The ASA,
the factors which determine if an however, considered readers would
advertisement is likely to cause understand views expressed in the poster
offence… were the advertiser’s opinion on a
controversial issue and that the posters was
unlikely to cause serious or widespread
offence. The ASA does not have an opinion
on individual products, services, causes or
ideologies – it is only concerned with
advertisements for them.

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
These terms – taste and decency – are not absolutes: they are constantly changing. For
example, what was considered tasteful and decent levels of female exposure in the
1900’s is clearly no longer the same as the 2000’s. Our ideas about what is tasteful and
decent as well as our ideas about women have changed radically since then. For Media
students this brings into focus the key concept - representation.

Representation: what does it mean?

Representation is the process through which the media select and re-present the world
to us through texts constructed for a particular target audience. For example, perfumes
and cosmetics are usually associated with women while young men are associated with
alcohol and sports. These representations are representative of wider numbers of
people, but this is only part of the whole picture. The repetition of these representations
across the media leads us to believe that this is the way people are: all young women
and men, all Irish or Scottish people, all gay people, all disabled people and so on
behave like this.
This is called stereotyping.

(Note: A stereotype was originally a piece of metal, a template, from which thousands of
others were cut to identical proportions. You can see how this has attached to what we
understand as stereotyping now.)

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
What are the rules on taste and decency?
The advertising codes state that advertisements should contain nothing
that is likely to cause serious or widespread offence.
The codes also require that special care is taken to avoid causing offence on
the grounds of race, religion, sex, sexual orientation or disability.
When the ASA Council decides whether an ad complies with the codes it will
judge on the context, medium, audience, product and prevailing
standards of decency.

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
What are the rules on taste and decency?
The ASA has to balance the advertisers’ freedom of expression with any
offence caused; it also has to consider the rights of those who are not
offended by the ad to see it.
For that reason, the codes allow for ads that might be distasteful, but which
might not go as far as being offensive.
Also, just because someone objects to a particular product or service does
not mean that that is sufficient grounds for objecting to an ad for it.

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
What exactly do people find offensive?
There are various reasons why advertisements offend; the
following are just some:
•They refer to sex or show nude bodies
•They use strong language or swear words
•They mock religion or people’s beliefs
•They show people in a demeaning way, offending on the grounds
of gender, race, religion, sexuality, age and disability
•They depict violent situations

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
Context

Preferred and negotiated readings

All media texts are constructed by institutions for targeted audiences taking into account
age, race, nationality, class, gender, sexuality and lifestyle. Advertisements can be
carefully researched before and after they are launched into the carrier media to see how
the target group responds. Before launch, advertisements that are part of major
campaigns are often tested out on focus groups, specially convened groups of people
who represent the target group, to see if there are any objections to it and to see if the
messages are clear. Some time after the campaign is launched there is a period of
market research to see if there is raised awareness of the product after seeing the
advertisement.

Advertisements are therefore constructed with preferred ways of reading them, i.e. so
that the target group will find them accessible and attractive. Of course, people other than
the target group will be exposed to the same advertisements and will make their own
negotiated readings based on their own audience profile – age, race, class, gender etc.
It is the context of the advertisement, where it appears, that usually gives the audience
the right clues and cues to understanding.

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
Activity

Look at the advertisements in the next four slides. Can you work out who the target
audience is and in what context these advertisements first appeared?

How might people who do not belong to the target audiences make negotiated readings
that may result in them being offended by the ads?

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
 Product Disclosure, an 18 rated film
Medium Poster

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
 Product Package holidays for young
adults
Medium Poster

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
 Product Haircare product
Medium National newspaper

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
 Product Weekly magazine for young
adult men
Medium TV

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
Analysis
Analyse the two stills in the previous slide taken from an advertisement for a magazine
for young male adults.
1. How are the young women represented?
2. What impression do they give?
3. What might be offensive to young women here? Think about: clothing, colours,
pose, expressions, props and vocabulary.
4. Can you imagine a similar advertisement featuring young men? Read how the
ASA ruled on an advertisement featuring naked men:
http://www.asa.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/96149227-DBD3-4708-820E-
4325718C3448/0/ASA_Statistics_2002.pdf
5. What do you think about the two adjudications?
6. Write up your findings in a 200 word report.

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
Religious offence
Britain is now a multi-cultural and multi-faith society. The Church of England may be
suffering from a loss of Sunday worshippers but there are many other religions and
religious organisations that are very strongly supported and whose beliefs are very
strongly held. It is therefore a very sensitive area of representation.
Activity
Look at the advertisement on the next slide for the contraceptive pill, Levonelle.
How might the advertisement be offensive and to whom?
How might this fall foul of the advertising codes? How would you rule on it?
You will find the ad and what the ASA decided on the complaints in the ASA Annual
Report for 2004.

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
The body copy of this tube poster reads: It might be Christmas time but condoms
still split and pills still get forgotten. So if your contraception lets you down, ask your
pharmacist for Levonelle One Step. It’s now just one pill that works best within 24
hours of unprotected sex, but can be taken up to 73 hours after. Available without a
prescription.

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
Religious offence: the new legislation
In 2005 the government brought forward a law to outlaw comments likely to stir up hatred
against religious groups.
Such protection already existed for Jews and Sikhs under race relations law. However,
the government says it wants to extend this protection to other groups so they cannot be
harmed because of their religious beliefs. Why do you think the government has seen fit
to act on this at this moment in British history?

Adjudicating on complaints that ads cause religious offence

Adjudicating on the issue of religious offence is a difficult path to tread for all of us and for
the ASA in particular. In general do you support the decisions the ASA has made in the
area. See the following slides for examples of ads the ASA has adjudicated against.

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
 A TV ad for Mr Kipling cakes that ran
over Christmas featured a nativity play
with a live birth. The ad was the most
complained about TV ad for both 2003
and 2004, the ad running over the
Christmas / New Year period. People
objected that it mocked a holy event.

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
Mr Kipling Mince Pies
Religious offence is a predominant theme in the Top Ten complaints in 2004. Here is an
extract from the ASA 2004 Annual Report.
“Religious offence was a predominant theme in the complaints received by the
regulators. The two most complained about non-broadcast advertisements - a Channel 4
poster for the programme Shameless (which depicted a drunken family scene styled on
the Leonardo Da Vinci painting of the Last Supper and attracted 264 complaints) and a
poster by Schering Health Care Ltd (advertising the morning-after pill, Levonelle, beneath
the headline “Immaculate Conception” and drawing 183 objections) – and the second
most complained about broadcast commercial – for Mr Kipling cakes (806 complaints
about a nativity play which featured a real-life birth) attracted 25% of the all the
complaints sent about the ads featured in both the top ten lists. The ads had attracted
complaints that they mocked elements central to the Christian faith. Of these three,
complaints about both the Mr Kipling commercial and the Levonelle poster were upheld.”

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
 In December 2004, in the run up to
their Christmas special, Channel 4
ran a street poster for their satirical
sitcom “Shameless”. The ASA
received a very large number of
complaints about it. You can read
what Channel 4 said about the
“Shameless” poster on
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lon
don/4113913.stm and
http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/n
ews/s/140/140312_is_tv_cult_hit_pos
ter_shameless.html

Do you think the complaints were

justified? How significant was the
timing of the advertisement?

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
 Analysis and Discussion

Analyse the ways that the advertisement for The

Sunday Times magazine opposite is constructed
that might give offence:

Look at:
• The iconic pose and the appearance of the young
woman
• The way in which she is looking at the camera –
her gaze.
• The pun in the headline – Heavenly Bodies. What
possible meanings can you find here?

Does the context of the image, a serious and well-

respected Sunday newspaper supplement rather
than a soft porn magazine, influence the way the
image might be read?

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
Analysis and Discussion
Do you personally find it offensive?
Who might?
Now read the adjudication in the Statistics section for 1998 on the ASA website
www.asa.org.uk to find out how the ASA ruled on complaints about it.
Do you agree with their findings?
Do you find any surprising ‘evidence’ there?

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
Stereotyping and Ideology
Stereotypes must contain a ‘grain of truth’ or they are not believable, and believability is
crucial to the effectiveness of the message. However, the ‘grain of truth’ is sometimes
very hidden in history and/or ideology.
Activity
Looking for the ‘grain of truth’
Look at this advertisement on the next slide for npower, an energy company.
The obvious prejudice against people with ginger hair in this advertisement seems to be
peculiar to the British Isles. If you ask a French or American person about it they will not
have any idea why having ginger hair is undesirable or laughable.
Think about the ‘grain of truth’ idea. Having ginger or red hair is considered to be
different, and somehow not desirable. It is a widely held stereotype in Britain. If there is
a ‘grain of truth’ in this stereotype, where do you think it might come from?

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2
Taste and Decency
People with ginger/red hair are usually Celtic in origin; that is to say, that they are
descendents of the indigenous people of Scotland, Ireland and some parts of Wales
and Cornwall (and Brittany in France) who have different racial and tribal roots from
the majority Anglo Saxon population of England. When the Romans conquered
Britain they built Haidrian’s Wall to keep the Scots/Celts out. The English conquered
and colonised the Irish because they thought that they were too wild and troublesome.
Could this fear of difference be the origin of the prejudice? See if you can find out.

Activity / Research

Think about other common stereotypes used in advertisements: the French; football
fans; scientists; teenagers and old people; mums and dads. Make a collection of one
of the above (or another of your choice) and analyse the ‘grain of truth’ in the
stereotype.

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
Ideology: what does it mean?

Every culture has a set of strongly held beliefs and values that guide behaviour and
structure the boundaries of power in social interaction. They are not written down but are
generally accepted as the way things should be and confirmed daily in all walks of life.
For instance, in post 2000 Britain it is commonly believed

•That two parents bringing up a child is better than one and that it is better if both of those
parents are heterosexual
•That the Monarchy is a good thing for Britain
•That Parliament is the guarantor of a democratic system of government

Discussion

Can you think of any strongly held ideological beliefs? For example, about how men and
women should look and behave? About young people? About religion? About Britain’s
role in the world? About sexuality?

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
The ASA upheld
complaints about
this ad for watches
because it mocked
people with eating
disorders.

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
Analyse the Accurist advertisement carefully. Look at:
•The style of the font used in the strapline: Put some weight on
•The pun in the strapline
•The way the watch is worn
•The faded colours
•The appearance of the young woman
•How does she compare to most supermodels in fashion shoots?
How do you feel about the way this young woman is represented? Is it fair? Is it
offensive? Who is the target audience?

Research and Analysis

Make a collection of advertisements that feature young fashionable women. Write an
essay/report in which you outline the significant elements of the ways in which they are
represented and the products they are used to sell. What conclusions can you draw?

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
 The ASA did not uphold
complaints about this mailing
for the charity Age Concern.
Although complainants
objected that the statement
“I’d rather be dead than spend
another Christmas on my own”
was offensive and could cause
distress, the ASA accepted the
advertiser’s assertion that
readers would believe the
statement to be one of despair
rather than intent and that the
mailing was unlikely to cause
serious or widespread offence.

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
Representations of old people

Older people are very often represented as vulnerable and helpless. The advertisement
in the previous slide for Age Concern draws on that idea in a well-intentioned way but
many people found it to be very distressing. Its black and white gritty realism and its
rundown context encourage a very serious reading.

Look at the advertisement in the next slide for Paddy Power. It is using humour to make
its point but using a similar stereotype of older people. How do you respond to it? Do
you think that it works? Does it make you laugh? If it featured your grandparents would
you find it funny?

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2
Taste and Decency
Why and how do ideologies change?
It must be said though, that these beliefs are not as strongly held as they once were. Our
ideas have changed and they continue to change because people, usually large numbers
of people, challenge them. Our ideas about gender, race, sexuality and disability in
particular have changed radically since the beginning of the 20th century because women
and men, black and Asian, gay and disabled people have argued and campaigned for
changes in the way they are represented in the media. What used to be acceptable is
not acceptable now.

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
The medium is ( part of )
the message
The ASA tries not to be a
moral censor or social
engineer; its aim is to
decide if an advertisement
is likely to cause serious or
widespread offence to
those people who will see
it.
Therefore, where an
advertisement is placed is
important when deciding if
it is likely to cause offence.

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
The medium is ( part of ) the message
The ASA did not uphold complaints about the perfume ad on the previous slide when it
appeared in women’s fashion magazines. Most readers of those magazines would be
familiar with such images of female nudity from the editorial content of the magazines.
However when the ASA received complaints about the same image on a poster the ASA
did uphold the complaints. Anyone can see a poster, no matter what their sensitivities, so
it is more likely that the poster will offend some people who see it. The ASA received
over 900 complaints about the poster.

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
What causes offence to one person may be completely acceptable to another: the press
coverage quoted on the following slides that resulted from the ASA investigation into the
Opium advertisement shows the mix of opinion on the ad and illustrates why the ASA’s
task of making decisions on taste and decency is a difficult one.

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
Naked Sophie is top ad among VIPs

The Guardian
Ashley Davies
Thursday June 21, 2001

The controversial image of a naked Sophie Dahl advertising Opium perfume was last
year's favourite poster among so-called "VIPers", a well-heeled research group.
VIPers, short for Very Important People, Exclusive Research, comprises 1,000, 25-54
ABs who are cash-rich and time-poor.
In a survey examining their responses to poster advertising, half of them agreed that
posters, run in conjunction with a TV campaign, served as a clear reminder of the
commercial.

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
Wednesday December 20, 2000
The Guardian

“Good advert for the ASA”

As one of the 730 who protested over the billboard "soft porn" advertisement featuring a naked
Sophie Dahl, I am pleased by the Advertising Standards Authority's decision to remove the
poster ('Offensive' Opium poster to be removed, December 19). When I first contacted the
billboard owners, Maiden, I received the reply that "it was not Maiden's intention for this poster
to cause any offence" and "to be assured that we do take complaints from members of the
public seriously". My complaint, together with that of parents near the school where I teach in
Rochdale, were acted on swiftly.
I also contacted the Advertising Standards Authority, which had agreed that the advertisement
was OK for targeted media but not appropriate for positioning near a school. The ASA has said
that the poster was in breach of the code of conduct and is now being taken down throughout
the country. It has listened to what people are saying, as many women felt very offended by
the poster, myself included. A victory for common decency.

Manchester

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
Wednesday December 20, 2000
The Guardian

Good to see the Guardian reporting on its front page the decision of the ASA
ordering the withdrawal of an advert because the image is "too sexually
suggestive and degrading to women". And then printing the image. Brilliant.

London

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
Decency: representations of gender and sex
Naked bodies and the promise of sex have been used to sell anything from boilers to
perfume.
Activity
Study the advertisements in the next slides in some detail. Do you think they are justified
in using naked flesh to sell their products and services? Or, is it gratuitous exploitation of
the human body?
(Oxford Modern English Dictionary of gratuitous = uncalled for, unwarranted; lacking in
good reason)

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
 Product radio station
Medium Poster

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
 Product Bra
Medium Poster

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
 Product Vodka
Medium Poster

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
 Product Children’s clothes
Medium National newspaper

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
•Which of the advertisements in the previous slides might have appeared on posters out
on the street? How does that make a difference to the way we ‘read’ them?

•Which might have appeared in magazines? Which ones would be the most likely? Who
is the target audience?

•What is your opinion about using naked men and women to sell products? Do you find it
offensive? Look up the document entitled “Serious Offence in Non-broadcast
Advertising” in the Research section of ASA website. What conclusions do you draw
from this?

There is further discussion of this issue in the Issues section of the ASA website
www.asa.org.uk under Portrayals of Men and Women.

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
Using shocking images to raise public profile

During the 1990’s a number of companies became renowned for using shocking advertising.
They would spend relatively little on making and placing the advertisements but would gain
massive exposure from the large quantities of press coverage that they received as a result
of the shock images and offence that was caused. The ASA was able to adjudicate on the
complaints but the damage would already have been done: complainants would be upset
about the ads and the advertisers would have their media coup.

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2
Taste and Decency
ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2
Taste and Decency
Industry action to stop the flow of shock advertising
It would be impossible to pre-vet every advertisement before it appeared, however to prevent
abuse of the poster medium, the poster industry members of CAP now operate a poster pre-
vetting sanction. If the ASA rules against a poster on the grounds of serious or widespread
offence or social irresponsibility, the poster advertiser becomes a candidate for mandatory pre-
vetting. If the poster industry members of CAP and the CAP Executive believe that the advertiser
either is incapable of complying with the Code or seems to have deliberately flouted the Code
with the intention of generating complaints, PR and subsequent notoriety, they will compel the
advertiser to check future posters with the CAP Copy Advice team for a fixed period (usually two
years).

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
What role do the media play?

The media both help to challenge and to reaffirm our values and beliefs. Most media
reaffirm conventional ideological ideas because it is more effective in targeting the
mainstream of consumers. Women are still represented as homemakers and mothers
in domestic advertising because it is still women who do most of the domestic work
even though these stereotypical representations have been challenged repeatedly.
Representing men as domestic workers just doesn’t fit with the way that most people
see themselves and would not connect as effectively with potential consumers.
Ideology is very slow to change.

Benetton, as we have seen in the previous resource presentation, Controlling

Advertising, is one company who argue that they are challenging the customer’s ideas
about a whole range of social and political issues by incorporating unfamiliar and
‘shocking’ representations in their campaigns and branding material. Buying jumpers
is not seen purely as consumerism but as a political act! They are targeting people
who have a conscience about serious world matters and who are encouraged to see
themselves differently from the rest.

FCUK use what is considered ‘bad language’ to shock and attract their audience. The
advertisement in the next slide raised a number of complaints when it appeared.
What do you think? Are you concerned about the use of language?

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2
Taste and Decency
Read the piece of research undertaken by the ASA in December 2000 entitled “Delete
Expletives?” What are its major conclusions?
ACTIVITIES AND DISCUSSION
Representations of sexuality
•Look carefully at the advertisement on the next slide.
•What is it selling?
•Who is the target audience?
•How does it challenge established ideological beliefs and values?
•Where might you expect to see an advertisement like this?
•If it were a street poster, would that make a difference?
•Are you offended by it?
•Who might be?
•Does it contravene the CAP Code?

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2
Taste and Decency
Activity
Look up the adjudication for the advertisement in the last slide in the Statistics section of
the ASA website under 2001. Do you support the ASA’s ruling?

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
Who decides?
The ASA Council is responsible for deciding if the Code is breached. The Council members
come from a wide background, this helps to ensure views from across the country can be
expressed. To help them understand what causes offence, the ASA conducts regular research,
which it publishes on its website. This doesn’t bind the Council, however; rather it acts as a
guide. This is because each advertisement is different and appears in a unique place in time.
The ASA judges the ads and the complaints received on their individual merits.

An ex-member of the British Army who

received this text message at the end of
September 2001 objected that the wording
“Please report to your local army recruitment
centre immediately for your 2nd tour of duty”
could cause undue fear and distress. The ASA
agreed that, at first glance, the text message
could distress recipients. Had the message
appeared before the atrocities of 11th
September 2001, the effect of the ad might well
have been different.

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
How many complaints does it take?
It’s not a question of the number of complaints received. An ad that raises one complaint
can be deemed unacceptable, whereas an ad that receives hundreds could be deemed
acceptable.
Over 1600 people objected that the TV commercial featured on the next slide was
offensive and encouraged children to speak with their mouths full. The ASA decided the
ad was unlikely to cause widespread or serious offence or encourage emulation by
children.

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2
Taste and Decency
For and against

The BBC reported on the ASA’s decision to allow the most complained about ad ever to
continue running. Opinions for and against the decision were posted on the BBC’s
website:

I am appalled at the ASA's decision about this advert not encouraging bad manners. As a
primary school teacher I spend much of my time trying to promote good manners in my
children and at meal times in particular.
Ms xxx, London, England

This latest complaint against KFC is another appalling display of mind numbing pettiness
perpetrated by embittered middle Englanders with too much time on their hands. Thank
goodness the ASA weren't too chicken to put the brakes on this ridiculous protest.
Lettuce watch TV in peace, I say!
Mr xxx, London, UK

See the next slide for more views

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
In a time when music and film is glamorising gun and drug culture in the UK, people see fit
to complain about an innocent, funny ad featuring people singing with their mouths full.
Madness! I bet KFC and the advertisers can't believe their luck with the amount of publicity
this ad has now received. One of the funniest ads I've seen in a long time.
xxx, Derbyshire, UK

As the parent of a young child, I find adverts like this unhelpful when trying to teach my
child table manners. What it certainly does not achieve is to make me want to buy KFC
products, so the company has wasted its money purchasing this advertising from an
agency which clearly has not caught the mood of the country at present.
Mr xxx, Leicestershire
To read more opinions visit the following page on the BBC website;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4598105.stm

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
Most of the hundreds of complainants about this advertisement were either parents or people
who are responsible for children’s behaviour. How offensive do you find it?
Analyse the Zinger Crunch Salad advertisement in the following ways:

1. How significant do you find the context of the ad?

2. Describe the lighting effect.
3. Where is the viewer situated? What is our viewpoint?
4. Describe the three principal female characters – their age, class, race etc. What,
if anything, do they have in common?
5. How does the humour work? Whose side are we, the viewer, on?
6. The majority of the complaints, were about the representation of bad manners -
very few about over-eating. What might this suggest about values and beliefs (ideologies) of
parenting in contemporary Britain?
See the Children and Advertising section of this Schools and Colleges tour for more work on
food and health concerns.

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
 The ASA received one complaint about this mailing
sent to businesses for recruitment services. The ASA
upheld the complaint because it believed the mailing
would offend people who received it at their place of
work.

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
Activity
Think up an advertisement that challenges a strongly held ideological belief. Try not to
make it offensive to anyone. Be careful to identify the target audience and the context of
the advertisement before you begin.

Activity
Make a collection over time of advertisements that challenge the accepted values and
beliefs of contemporary Britain. Write an essay/presentation in which you discuss the
role that the media play in changing people’s ideas.

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency
It’s worth remember that less than a quarter of the complaints the ASA receives are
about offensive ads -complaints about misleading ads form the majority of the
ASA’s work - but the ASA’s adjudications on complaints about taste and decency
attract the most attention and stimulate the most debate. Despite the headlines,
research consistently shows that consumers enjoy advertising.

If you would like more information on this topic visit the ASA website www.asa.org.uk
where you will find sections on Taste and Decency and The Depiction of Men and
Women in the Issues area. Also the Statistics section of the ASA website contains the
Top 10 most complained about ads since 1995, many of which were complaints on the
grounds of offensiveness.

ASA Schools and Colleges resources No.2

Taste and Decency