Statistics relating to January – October 2004 are reproduced with the kind permission of Ofcom. The ASA took over responsibility for receiving and resolving broadcast complaints on 1 November 2004.

Complaints received and resolved
In 2004, Ofcom and the ASA received a total of 9,860 broadcast complaints about 2,532 commercials where the product was identified. This compares with 9,082 complaints about 1,642 ads in 2003 as reported by Ofcom.

During the year, 10,155 complaints were resolved either by Ofcom or the ASA – a 12% increase on 2003. The ASA received 1,797 complaints about 551 broadcast advertisements in November and December. The vast majority of those complaints (1,722) were about television ads, the remaining 75 related to radio commercials. 302 complaints were outstanding at the year-end.

Reason for complaint
The most common cause of complaint to the ASA was misleadingness (820 complaints), followed by objections on the grounds of offensiveness (440 complaints) and harm (216 complaints).

During the two month period, 493 complaints were investigated by the ASA and 352 of those complaints were upheld. 127 were not upheld and, for the remaining 14, advice was offered to broadcasters.

Most complained about advertisements
The ten most complained about ads were all TV commercials and, in total, generated 3,883 complaints or 38.2% of the total complaints resolved. Complaints were upheld against four of the ten commercials. The most complaints were received about teleshopping channel Auctionworld resulting in Ofcom issuing a fine and, subsequently, revoking Auctionworld’s licence to broadcast.

ASA to Ofcom referrals
Between January and October 2004, the ASA received 5,814 complaints about television and radio advertising. These complaints were referred to Ofcom although it is not known how many of these complaints are reflected in the Ofcom totals.

Complaints received and resolved
	Complaints received		Complaints resolved
	Complaints	Total ads*	Complaints	Total ads*
January-October	8,063	1,981	8,562	1,979
November-December	1,797	551	1,593	530
Total	9,860	2,532	10,155	2,509
Complaints received and resolved
	Complaints received		Complaints resolved
	Complaints	Total ads*	Complaints	Total ads*
November	1,107	303	806	281
December	690	248	787	249
Total	1,797	551	1,593	530
Code clause complaints resolved
Main category			November-December
Harmful			216
Misleading			820
Offensive			440
Miscellaneous			97
Unknown			20
Total			1,593
Media
November-December	Complaints received		Complaints resolved
TV	1,722		1,539
Radio	75		54
Total	1,797		1,593
*Where product identified