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Ads that offend

Posted at 2:33 PM on June 1, 2012 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Britain, bless its heart, has a watchdog agency to prevent TV commercials from offending its people.

This week the Advertising Standards Authority released its list of all-time horrible TV commercials based on the number of complaints received.

Here's your winner:

Most of the complaints to the ASA were based on the assertion that the ad would encourage bad manners among children, a factoid which pretty well sums up how Britain and the U.S. are different.

The 2005 ad, however, was allowed to stay on the air, thus contributing to a generation of ill-mannered children with adorable accents.

The third-most-complained-about ad was this one.

But that one stayed on the air too. There's no indication that Britain's children are now talking with their mouths full of kittens.

Here's the full list.