One of the key things you study in year twelve media is forms of regulation. One example of media regulation that I’d like to tell a personal story about today is the advertising standards bureau or ASB. An independent industry regulatory body, the bureau takes complaints about ads on TV and judges them against certain criteria, and has the power to remove ads from air. I’m writing about it today because my dad has made a complaint.

There are plenty of criteria against which ads are judged, such as the inclusion of discrimination, endorsement of unsafe behaviour or depiction of illegal behaviour. It’s based on the last criterion that Dad has made a complaint. You might be familiar with a certain Nimble ad in which two parents are in strife when they realise they can’t pay for the DJ at their child’s birthday party. Luckily, Nimble comes to the rescue with an on-the-spot loan.

Dad complained on the basis that in hiring the DJ without knowing for sure that they could pay him, the parents were engaging in a contract that they couldn’t fulfil, which is against the law.

It may seem a bit pedantic, but I think it is fair. I mean, we shouldn’t be encouraging people to buy things they can’t afford on the basis that they can lend money to pay for it. But if you think that’s pedantic, you should see some of the ads that have been cancelled by the ASB. Have a look at these, and see if you can guess why they’ve been banned.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rUahMBILuk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8jOPc5DXIw

Give up? Ad A was banned for misleadingly suggesting that preservatives could make you glow in the dark. Ads B and C were both banned for depicting unsafe behaviour; the first for depicting unsafe road behaviour and the second because using electronics in water can cause electrocution.

Seems pretty crazy, right? I mean, surely people have some common sense and can work these out for themselves? These aren’t even the worst. If you want to see how crazy people can get, check out this Mumbrella article by Tim Burrowes about some of the worst complaints made to the ASB over the years. It should give you a bit of a laugh.