ASA 2024 Annual Report: Strengthening Consumer Protections With Effective Ad Self-Regulation

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) today released its 2024 Annual Report, detailing the extensive work undertaken to strengthen consumer protections and support industry awareness and compliance with the Advertising Codes.

Highlights from our report include:

• We received 1628 complaints. Following triage, we considered 1312 formal complaints about 206 ads
• 100 ads were accepted for review by the Complaints Board, of these 62% were requested to be removed or amended
• The industry compliance rate with decisions was 99%
• Enhanced protection for children and vulnerable audiences with the launch of the new Children’s Advertising Code, and Food and Beverage Advertising Code
• Investment in industry education and training, with 20+ education and compliance resources published, and a suite of free webinars to support industry adoption of the new Codes
• The five most complained about ads from 2024

ASA Chief Executive Hilary Souter said, “Industry support is the foundation of the ASA self-regulatory process, with a collective purpose to uphold high standards of responsible advertising in New Zealand. Industry have risen to the challenge with the adoption of two new Codes in 2024, working with us as we rolled out new ad protections for children, and for all New Zealanders under the Food and Beverage Code. We thank the industry for their continued support of our process, as we work together on making every ad a responsible ad.

We are also grateful to the consumers and wider community who engage with our work – whether it be through our complaints process or our public consultations, consumer input is crucial to the effective operation of the ASA. We look forward to continuing our work together in 2025.”

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