Internet provokes more complaints than newspapers or magazines

Advertising watchdog the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has released its annual report for 2007 which outlines the pattern of complaints about advertising. The internet was the subject of almost 3,000 complaints.

The ASA said, though, that the large majority of internet-related complaints were to do with content on websites and not advertising.

"A total of 2,980 complaints were received about internet advertising," said the report. "Of those, 2,144 (72%) were about the content of websites and as such fell outside of the ASA’s remit."

"The number of complaints we receive about advertising on the internet continues to grow strongly," said former Culture Secretary Chris Smith, now Lord Smith of Finsbury, the chairman of the ASA.

"Some of these – where banner or pop-up ads, emails or virals are concerned – are within our remit, but the overwhelming proportion of complaints are ones we currently cannot address, because they relate to advertising claims on companies’ own websites, and as such fall outside our remit," he said.

Smith said that the ASA was waiting for guidance on how to adapt its principles and limits to advertising on the internet.

"Interestingly, these complaints are almost entirely about truth, accuracy, misleadingness, and availability – the 'meat and drink' of the ASA’s daily work on print and broadcast ads," he said. "We hope for an early outcome to the detailed discussions under way within the industry, led by the Advertising Association, on the development of ways to ensure continued responsibility in advertising in new media settings.

The ASA found that the most commonly complained about features of online advertisements differed to those of their offline counterparts.

"The vast majority of all complaints about the internet (84%) were about misleading advertisements or content," said the ASA's report. "Complaints about pricing and charges and the availability of products are more common in online advertising than in traditional media."

"Other common complaints about online advertising relate to delivery times or the omission of relevant information. In 2007, just 8% of internet complaints were about offensiveness and only 2% related to harm," it said.

It said that advertising related complaints included complaints about online sponsored search, which accounted for 3.4% of the total, display internet advertising, which accounted for 11.6% and classified, video and viral ads.

Some of the complaints received by the ASA about the material published by web businesses, rather than by advertisers, may be better directed to the Office of Fair Trading or its consumer advice service Consumer Direct.

Consumer Direct said nearly 70,000 people complained to it about online traders last year. "Consumer Direct received 69,130 complaints about goods and services purchased online in 2007," said a Consumer Direct statement. "This represents about 8.5% of our total complaint calls."

"Of those, 20,301 were about defective goods, 15,088 were about problems with delivery, collection and repair, 11,322 were about substandard services and 7,949 concerned misleading claims or omissions," it said.

The OFT carried out its own research last year into the state of online shopping. "We asked internet shoppers if they had experienced any problems when shopping online," said its report of last year. "Nearly a quarter (23%) told us that they had experienced at least one problem when buying online in the previous year."

The report found that the greatest number of problems were not specific to the internet but were more generally to do with distance selling. It found that 48% of problems were related to delivery and communication was a major problem.

"Our data on complaints suggests that the volume of consumer complaints does not appear unusual when compared to other distance selling channels, and that the types of complaints match those for mail order," it said.