Being the one to tell people they’ve crossed the line is an unenviable responsibility at the best of times. But, despite having forged a career out of doing just that, Hilary Souter, the chief executive of the Advertising Standards Authority, which celebrated its 40th anniversary last year, is still smiling. So how does she keep it all together at the ASA?

In 2013, the ASA received 792 complaints levelled at 598 advertisements that Kiwis found offensive, misleading or irresponsible. 313 of these complaints were found to have no grounds to proceed while 285 were were referred to the Complaints Board. In total 60 percent of the ads that reached the Complaints Board were either settled or upheld. Here’s a rundown of the 10 ads that angered the highest number of Kiwis last year.

A complaint levelled at a Hellers TVC that features comedian Leigh Hart barbecuing on the back of a moving ute has been upheld by the ASA for not abiding by the New Zealand Road Code. In the ad, Hart, who has been the face of the Hellers since 2006, gives another one of the ludicrous barbecuing tips that have have typified the ‘Hellers BBQ masters’ campaign.

Orcon has appealed an Advertising Standards Authority ruling that upheld a complaint about its TV ad which featured Kim Dotcom saying, “join today and start living with truly unlimited broadband”. The telco says it’s got rid of the Fair Use policy that was the bone of contention.

The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld complaints over a Dove Hair care ad which said 90 percent of Kiwi women recommended Dove Hair Care; and another about a Radio Hauraki billboard that showed drive show host Matt Heath giving passers by the big finger.

Peter Nuttall thinks New Zealand is playing a game of risk with its 100% Pure brand and believes it is bordering on greenwash. Wayne Linklater explains.

Apple-evangelist-turned-Googler Guy Kawasaki was in Auckland earlier this month, sharing with the Air New Zealand Social Media Breakfast crowd his top tips for enchanting people and winning followers on social networks.

Tampons are difficult to advertise without offending some people. The Advertising Standards Authority’s 2012 annual report shows two feminine hygiene products in its top ten most complained about ads list for last year.

Hakanoa Ginger Beer and M&C Saatchi got into a bit of PR strife a few months back after a campaign asking for parents to swap their red-haired kids for a six pack of ginger beer received a public scalding. After the public response—and despite claims about it being an attempt to raise awareness of the discrimination of ginger haired children—the campaign was pulled early. But the Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint about it, saying the posters were socially irresponsible and discriminatory.

Moa has its fair share of detractors, from threat-making Pakistanis to protective Frenchies to lesbians to those who disagreed with the imagery used in its, shall we say, unique prospectus. So it came as a shock to many when the trickster god of the Kiwi beer family was announced as a sponsor of the New Zealand Olympic team, a sponsorship we felt it did a fantastic job of leveraging online and in person at Kiwi house in London. And as part of its ‘Beer for Olympians’ campaign, it has had one complaint upheld and one not upheld by the ASA.

When the Australian Standards Bureau ruled that user generated content on Carlton United Breweries Facebook page could be classified as advertising and was therefore subject to the same criteria as any other ad, advertisers and advocates smacked their gobs and quivered in their boots because they felt on-the-fly moderation required to deal with comments was commercially impractical and would nullify the immediacy and openness that make social media so powerful. Now the Advertising Standards Authority in New Zealand has released its views on the matter, and while it doesn’t go quite as far as its neighbours, there are some interesting rulings that affect how brands interact with consumers online.

Stories about ASA complaints that weren’t upheld are generally the marcomms equivalent of ‘there was no accident on the bridge today’. But in the case of an advertisement for Carefree Acti-Fresh Panty Liners, otherwise known as vagina discharge-gate, we’ll make an exception, because none of the 18 complaints received will get to have their day in court.

From ‘it’s not the drinking, it’s how we’re drinking’ to the ‘ghost chips’ legends, our collective love for the bottle has been referenced in advertising far too many times to count. Now a billboard for Radio Hauraki’s ‘Drive’ show that normalises drinking has fallen foul of the Advertising Standards Authority, but the same ad placed in the New Zealand Herald was deemed acceptable.

Here at StopPress we often start the week off with a frank discussion about vaginal discharge, so you can imagine our excitement when we saw an ad for Johnson & Johnson’s brand Carefree last night depicting a naked woman talking about the female body and the role of its new acti-fresh product. But, rather than beat about the bush, so to speak, and use the obligatory ‘patronising euphemisms’ often associated with the category, the ad features the word vagina, and it’s thought to be one of the first times it has been used in a New Zealand TV ad.

Fonterra has been under the pump in recent times due to the steadily rising price of dairy products. But a complainant recently took aim at some of the language used on its website to promote the goodness of dairy. And not even new ambassador Richie McCaw could stop the Advertising Standards Authority from upholding two of the five complaints.

The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled that a church billboard proclaiming “Jesus Heals Cancer” that was erected by the Equippers’ Church in Napier and an ad for Waikato Draught that linked itself with the Chiefs in a Waikato Times supplement have crossed the line. 

The Advertising Standards Authority’s annual media turnover figures have been released, and while there are a few significant changes, there are no real surprises, with a slight overall increase on 2010 for the whole industry, TV doing as expected and claiming first place for the first time, interactive and outdoor charting significant rises and the rest of the media channels remaining fairly static. 

The price wars between the supermarket behemoths Progressive Enterprises and Foodstuffs is heating up, with Foodstuffs winning the latest legal skirmish. A decision by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled Progressive Enterprises guilty of presenting an artificial advantage and breaching ethics guidelines.

Steinlager’s impressive ‘We Believe’ campaign to celebrate 25 years sponsoring the All Blacks has so far managed to evade the legal clutches of the IRB/IMG gatekeepers, despite stepping on Heineken’s toes and stealing a big chunk of its RWC thunder. But it hasn’t managed to evade the legal clutches of the ASA, which has smacked Lion on the hand for a print ad that featured a picture of the white can with the line ’30 names we can believe in’. The ad featured in the papers the day after the All Blacks squad had been named and was deemed by a majority of the complaints board to contravene the restrictions around heroes of the young. But does this ruling show the letter of the law is being taken too far? 

The ASA’s annual report for 2010 is out and the always interesting top ten most complained about ads of the year has been released, with the Erotica Expo billboard, ASB’s IVF ad and a Durex condoms outdoor campaign taking the medals.