Department of Advertising Standards and Regulations

Background

The Advertising Standards Authority is the industry body in New Zealand which oversees public complaints about advertising. The only time most advertising people deal with them is when facing complaints about their ads.

The ASA wanted a campaign that would counteract negative perceptions if only because they rely on the industry for funding.

Idea

The alternative to self-regulation would be a governmental body, which would be less understanding and far tougher than the ASA.

The idea, then, was to create the fictitious Department of Advertising Standards and Regulations, which started firing out letters to 150 leading figures in the advertising business, notifying them that their ads were infringing the rules.

They were directed to dasr.org.nz

Here they could see ten famous NZ ads and a list of the complaints about them that were being upheld.

For instance, the ad was too long.

Traffic rules had been infringed.

The music was annoying.

If anyone went to appeal against their fines, they were frustrated by a moving button. Finally a screen appeared informing the viewer of the hoax: The ASA might not be perfect, but it was at least better than the alternative.

Results

There was a sudden increase in traffic to the website with 2,162 visits in two days.

Average time on site: 02:16

As well as direct mail, e-mail was used. 83 e-mails were sent to the CEO’s of agencies and to senior clients resulting in 916 unique opens in two days.

Our Thoughts

It is a thankless task, being an industry watchdog, but also incredibly important. Back in the 1980’s, Marek Kaniewska shot an amazing commercial for Kronenbourg in France, which cross-cut between images of a mother shopping in the city with her son and the same woman bonking a business magnate on his office sofa.

Within a week all booze advertising on TV was banned and swingeing restrictions imposed which have never been lifted.

That’s what happens when government steps in.

The scenarios in the letters and online pages of this campaign are funny, but not implausible. Here’s hoping the campaign works and that advertising folk in NZ appreciate that the devil they know is infinitely better than the devil they don’t.