Publications

Partner Mark Owen attended a meeting held at the Houses of Parliament on 20 June 2011, where the UK government indicated that it intended to legislate if necessary to block harmful content online from being made available to children.

It's that time of year again when the ASA releases details of the most complained about adverts of the year. We take a look at some of the themes that seemed to reoccur in this year's list.

In this Ad Alert we look at how the ASA deals with complaints about seemingly inappropriate television advertising before the watershed.

It has been another unusual year, and although many clients continued to face difficult markets, an increasingly large proportion have been thriving. Has a corner been turned? We don't think so yet - but the signs are encouraging, and we have begun 2011 with great optimism.

Read the Annual Review of our work and achievements from 2010.

We look at the ASA's recent decision to ban adverts in Jack Wills' 2011 Spring Term Handbook, highlighting the difference between the ASA's treatment of harmless sexual innuendo and graphic sexual references.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld complaints against YSL's Belle D'Opium television advert for being irresponsible and offensive. Find out the reasons behind the decision.

The Advertising Standards Authority has produced numerous recent adjudications which shed interesting light on the general approach taken by the Authority in response to complaints raised. We look at recent adjudications regarding a TV advertisement for Saw3D and a poster for Vitaminwater, owned by CocaCola Enterprises Ltd.

The ASA Adjudications are essential reading for anyone involved in advertising and marketing, as they are the best guide on trends and how the ASA views particular issues. Over the last couple of weeks, there have been a number of interesting reports.

At the risk of suggesting that the Harbottle & Lewis Advertising Group is only interested in one thing, we have been interested to note this week the commentary on Rodial's new Boob Job - a bust enhancing cream that promises to increase women's breasts by half a cup size provided it is used daily for 56 days and, at £125 for a 100ml pot, it better had.

Deciding whether or not any particular campaign, or any part of it, is likely to offend against this broad principle can often be difficult, because it involves subjective criteria, and an attempt to second guess what the regulators think the public will think.

Just days after we bemoaned the delay, it was formally announced that the digital remit of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is to be significantly extended to improve online consumer protection.

For those who are easily excited by advertising matters, there was an announcement a few months ago that caught our attention. The word was out that the remit of the ASA and the Advertising Codes would soon be extended to cover website content and editorial, rather than just obvious paid for advertising. STOP PRESS: The ASA has announced that the extension will take effect from 1 March 2011.

Kelly Brook has been busy this month. She has declared August 2010 to be her "naked month". And indeed it is. Her Playboy centrefold will be published, she is captured, naked, in a photo shoot for Love Magazine also out this month, her new movie Piranha 3D will premiere (in which she has a terrifying, naked, encounter with a piranha) and she has appeared naked in an ad which has been unveiled in Battersea.