Advertising Standards Bureau Review of Operations 2015 | Page 35

DETERMINATION TRANSPORT EDUCATORS CODES
CONSUMERS ADAPTABLE EDUCATORS SOCIAL MEDIA
COOPERATING BILLBOARDS ASSOCIATING
GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY
LIAISING INTEGRITY CINEMA
INDUSTRY TRAINING
STANDARDS PEOPLE
TRANSPORT BRIDGING
child lying face down on the back seat of a
• Advertisements in relation to people raising
INDEPENDENT
car (Buckle Me Up – 0286/15).
awareness or making a statement about SOCIAL MEDIA
political or social issues can be justified in CONSUMERS
-- A television advertisement which featured
CODES
using graphic images, so long as those images

Violence (Section 2.3, AANA
Code of Ethics)
Section 2.3 of the Code states:

a surgeon in a hospital theatre room
talking to the camera and providing
multiple choice questions and a discussion
of violent consequences (Transport for
NSW - 0152/15).

Advertising or Marketing Communications
shall not present or portray violence unless it
is justifiable in the context of the product or
service advertised.

The advertising of very few products or services
realistically justifies the depiction of violence. In
2015 the Board considered advertisements that
portrayed domestic violence, cruelty to animals,

graphic depictions, weaponry, and imagery that
may cause alarm or distress under Section 2.3 of
the Code.

--

•

--

Each year the Board receives numerous
complaints about community awareness
advertisements. These advertisements include
messaging relating to public health or safety. The
Board has consistently stated that a higher level of
graphic imagery is recognised as being justifiable
in public education campaigns because of the
important health and safety messages that they
are intended to convey.
The Board’s view was:
•

dvertisements which portray realistic and
A
graphic situations intended to evoke a strong
reaction in the community in response to an
important call to action, is a justifiable use
of violence.
--

--

radio advertisement for first aid courses,
A
which depicted a phone conversation
between an adult woman and the
emergency services, where a child can be
heard crying and screaming as she has
been burnt by hot oil (St John Ambulance
WA – 0028/15).
television advertisement for a
A
commercial company advertising a seat
belt safety device which featured a dead

Review of Operations 2015

television advertisement highlighted
A
different types of cancers linked to
smoking, including visuals of surgery
on a bowel cancer patient and a woman
feeding herself through a tube (Cancer
Council WA – 0065/15).

--

television advertisement for an antiA
smoking campaign showed vision from
previous campaigns, including an autopsy
(Cancer Institute of NSW – 0478/15).

--

television advertisement which
A
highlighted the dangers of sugary drinks
included a depiction of internal organs as
the voice-over describes the side effects
of too much sugar and toxic fat (Live
Lighter – 0443/15).

--

--

--

--

A bus advertisement which featured
an image of a man’s face with a bloody
nose and lip promoting awareness
of equal rights for Lesbian, Gay,
Bi-Sexual, Transgender, Queer and
Intersex people in Australia (Amnesty
International - 0207/15).

--

bus advertisement which showed an
A
image of a cow apparently in distress to
show opposition to the live exporting of
animals (Animals Australia – 0039/15).

--

billboard which featured an image
A
of a horse lying down with the text
‘horesracingkills.com’ (Coalition for the
Protection of Racehorses - 0435/15).

television advertisement which featured
A
an eight year old girl who is at risk of
being forced into marriage (World Vision
Australia – 0439/15).

dvertising which uses confronting and
A
graphic imagery to promote important health
services are a justifiable use of violence.

The percentage of complaints received about
violence in advertising dropped slightly from
12.13 per cent in 2014 to 11.8 per cent in 2015.

Community awareness

are relevant to the social issue, are not overly
graphic or inappropriate to be viewed by a
large audience.

The Board however can find advertisements
to breach this section of the Code, even if the
violence is related to the issue being advertised,
if the level of violence is still too high to be
justifiable to the relevant audience. The Board’s
view was:
•

ree television advertisements which
Th
highlighted the negative side effects of
using the drug ice (Department of Health
and Ageing – 0219/15, 0240/15 and
0