Media Release: ASA Releases 2020 Annual Report

26 May 2021

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has released today their 2020 annual report.

This report outlines the self-regulatory action undertaken by the ASA and associated response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the General Election and work supporting advertisers and influencers working in the social media space.

The ASA handled over 1900 enquiries in 2020 and there was a 36% increase in complaints from 2019.

More than sixty percent of accepted complaints were removed or altered to comply with ASA Codes, reflective of the robust system and the willingness of advertisers to participate in self-regulation.  A breakdown of the ASA workload, complaints statistics and the top five most complained about advertisements are included in the annual report.

The ASA is committed to working with the advertising industry to support compliance with the Advertising Codes of Practice and to ensure every ad is a responsible ad.