Canadian Advertising Complaints

Consumers Faulted Frightening, Inaccurate and Misleading Ads

Mar 11, 2008

Canadians filed 1,445 complaints against 980 ads, but the industry councils found that only 56 ads actually violated the ASC advertising codes.

Despite a 40 percent rise in complaints, Canadians are apparently generally satisfied with the advertising they are hearing and seeing. They submitted only 1,445 complaints against advertisers in 2007, according to the annual report issued by Advertising Standards Canada (ASC), the industry’s self regulating organization.

Similar reports from other countries show that the advertising board in London received more than 13,000 complaints in the first half of 2007; that Australia received 4,044 complaints in 2006; and New Zealand received 1,557 in 2006.

Comparative numbers are not available for the United States because American ad complaints are filed with a variety of industry, consumer and governmental organizations.

The Canadian complaints are first reviewed by the ASC staff, then are submitted to the advertisers for comment. If the comments do not clear the complaint, the ads are then submitted to the five Canadian Consumer Response Councils for review.

Only 56 Ads Found in Violation of the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards

In 2007, the councils ruled that only 56 of the 980 ads (5.7 percent) mentioned in the 1,445 complaints actually "contravened" the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards. Those advertisers are "asked to amend or withdraw" the advertisements.

The Code also requires retail advertisers to run "corrective advertisements" to reach the same consumers as did the original ad.

The relatively small number of ads cited by the councils indicate that the industry itself, or at least its councils, is also generally satisfied with Canadian advertising.

The councils, which range in size from eight to 26 members, are composed primarily of business representatives. The "public representatives" on the councils account for 13 to 44 percent of the membership.

ASC Attributed Increase to Multiple Complaints Against Same Ads

The 1,445 complaints in 2007 compared with only 1,040 in 2006. ASC attributed the 40 percent increase to "multiple complaints" against the same ads. It said "three television commercials accounted for over 150 complaints."

Of the 1,445 complaints received, ASC said 376 "could not be pursued because they did not fall within the Code acceptance criteria."

Depicting Women in Derogatory Manner Was One of 2007 "Hot Issues"

According to the ASC annual report, consumers were most concerned about these four "hot button" issues:

The report was careful to point out that consumers "perceived" the violations, leaving the door open for advertisers to say the ads were not in actual violation.

Canadian retail ads drew 196 complaints, the largest of any category, but the food/supermarkets and automotive categories were not far behind. Food and supermarket advertisers received 177 complaints and auto advertisers received 173.

Television commercials continued to draw the most complaints, piling up 857. The Internet was a distant second with 119.

Specific advertising violations are not included in the ASC annual report, but are described in the organization’s quarterly reports.

ASC Calls Special Attention to "Green" Advertising

The annual report called special attention to growing consumer concerns about environmental claims in advertising and included guidelines for so-called "green" advertising.

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