Picking a winner

What is roughly translated from the French as a “digital wolf search” featured in the top-10 list of most complained-about advertisements in 2014.

The list, released by the Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) on December 15, showed that the “ick factor” advertisements were the number one cause of concern with complainants.

Of the record-breaking 5600-plus complaints about advertisements lodged with the bureau in 2014, cringeworthy ads – depicting such things as extra-marital dating, breaking wind or nose-picking – were notably common.

Television adds dominated, accounting for nine of the top 10. The only aberration was a billboard ad by the Coalition for the Prevention of Cruelty to Racehorses showing a horse lying on its side with the words “Is the party really worth it?” which rated in eighth place on the list.

The most complained about ad came from the online dating site Ashley Madison, which depicted married men singing “I’m looking for someone other than my wife”, while the second most offensive for the year was a MyPlate ad featuring a man breaking wind repeatedly in a car.

Close behind (not literally) an ad featuring a Leonardo Da Vinci character painting the last supper, was another MyPlate ad in which a man picks his nose (searching for a wolf in French) in a car, then wipes his finger on the door. Pixelating the finger had little effect on the complaints.

The rationale behind both the wind-breaking and nose-picking ads was that purchase of “girly” number plates by women drivers is a good way of keeping a husband/partner – and associated unsavoury activities – out of a car.

Ironically, not one of the 10 most complained about ads was found to have breached the advertising standards code and all were dismissed by the board.

According to ASB CEO Fiona Jolly: “While people may not wish to see ‘ick-factor’ images of nose-picking or farting on TV, or about dating sites for married people, the content of these advertisements do not breach the codes.

“When the board considers an advertisement, they can only consider the content of the advertisement, not the product being advertised, and can only consider the specific sections of the Code of Ethics.

"Our stats reveal that complaints this year were boosted by a number of ‘big ticket’ ads, with the 10 most complained about ads this year making up over 35 per cent of total complaint numbers.”