Advertising Standards Bureau Review of Operations 2015 | Page 15

MERGING BILLBOARDS TRANSPARENCY RADIO COMPLAINT PARTNERING
ADVERTISERS POSTERS COMMUNITY DETERMINATION OUTDOOR
SELF-REGULATE RESPONSIVE MEMBERS TELEVISION
ACCOUNTABILITY RESEARCH INTERNET RELIABLE
UNITING REPORTS CONSUMERS COMMUNICATING
DETERMINATION TRANSPORT EDUCATORS CODES
CONSUMERS ADAPTABLE EDUCATORS SOCIAL MEDIA
COOPERATING BILLBOARDS ASSOCIATING
GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY
LIAISING INTEGRITY CINEMA
INDUSTRY TRAINING
STANDARDS PEOPLE
TRANSPORT BRIDGING
INDEPENDENT
SOCIAL MEDIA
CONSUMERS
CODES

Achievements in 2015

“I was satisfied with the degree of
detail attended to, although obviously
disappointed at the outcome.”
Male 19-29, complaint dismissed

“The Board dealt with the issue and
provided a fair summary of the complaints
as well as a detailed explanation of the
reasons for their decision”
Male 55-65, complaint upheld.

Our strategic directions

Our key result areas

The Advertising Standards Bureau (the ASB)
administers a transparent, robust, accessible and
fair self-regulation system for advertising.

Financial
The ASB is financially viable and sustainable

Beneficiaries/Stakeholders

Purpose

2015 was the first full year of activity operating
under the increased rate of the advertising
self‑regulation levy. The successful implementation
of the levy increase in the first half of 2014 has
delivered ASB a stronger financial base without
any significant reduction in advertiser financial
support. The levy is remitted primarily by media
buyers from contributions made by responsible
advertisers and paid directly to the administering
body the Australian Advertising Standards
Council (AASC).

Concerned community complains to the ASB

The ASB exists to give voice to consumer values
and guide industry in maintaining decent,
honest advertising aligning with prevailing
community values.

Vision
The ASB is the foremost authority in Australia for
adjudication of complaints about advertising and
marketing communications.
Our strategic directions cover four key result areas:
•

financial

•

beneficiaries/stakeholders

•

internal business process

•

long term development.

Work continued in 2015 to promote the benefits
of the advertising self-regulation system and
encourage advertisers to continue their support
of the system through payment of the levy. Work
to gain levy support of some of Australia’s largest
advertisers also continued in 2015.

Business funds the system
Of advertisers in the top 150, 78.8 per cent pay the
self-regulation levy (86 per cent of top 50).
The Bureau Board has considered a number of
strategies to ensure growth in support of the
current levy system, and the ASB continues to
work on these initiatives.

Review of Operations 2015

Accessibility of complaints
As with previous years the ASB continued
to invite complainant feedback about the
advertising complaint process. A survey sent to
all complainants seeks opinions on the overall
complaint process, correspondence received, the
timeliness of the process and the explanations of
the Board’s determination in the final case report.
As has been the trend in previous surveys, a
majority of complainants were dissatisfied with
the final outcome of the Board’s deliberation of
the case. Of those who completed the survey,
61.5 per cent were dissatisfied with the ASB
process. This amount is significantly lower than
the 71 per cent of respondents who had their
complaints dismissed. It shows that despite not
getting the result they initially desired, almost
10 per cent of complainants were happy with the
complaints process and felt that their complaint
had received a fair hearing.
In response to community feedback, ASB
has modified its pre-complaint lodgement
questionnaire to remove confusion regarding the
acceptance of complaints about alcohol products
including broader alcohol marketing collateral.

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