Gay themes drive ad complaints in the UK

Britain's ad regulation board, the Advertising Standards Authority, released its annual report on which ads generated the most complaints.

At the top of the list was an anti-hate crime ad showing a bible next to a pool of blood. The ad claimed that there had been "a 74% increase in homophobic incidents, where the sole or primary motivating factor was the religious beliefs of the perpetrator". The ad, put out by the Gay Police Association, was deemed offensive by the agency and that the GPA couldn't back up their statistical claim.

Two ads with same-sex kisses also made the list of controversial ads. One ad, by the clothing company French Connection, showed two women in a fight that ends in a kiss. Meanwhile, a Dolce & Gabbana ad that shows a quick kiss between two men also invoked a number of complaints.

Having worked in marketing where part of my job involved talking to customers offended by our ads, I can see both sides to a lot of these ads. People view ads from different perspectives. For example, the ad to receive the second highest number of complaints showed a self-employed plumber evading taxes by hiding under a sink. The creators of the ad, in all likelihood, only saw an eye-catching image while self-employed plumbers saw themselves being held up as an example of a stereotypical tax evader.

Some ads are meant to be provocative, though, and the GPA's ad certainly seemed to have that goal. A GPA spokesman said that the ad's high number of complaints were partially due to an organized effort and while they've succeeded in getting action taken against the ads, they've also gotten those ads seen by a larger audience than the GPA's ad budget would have allowed.

Interestingly, the D&G ad came in two flavors, with the alternative ad showing a heterosexual kiss. The agency didn't find the complaints justified, with the kiss in the D&G ad called "relatively mild" and fine for "times of general, family viewing."

Below, you can check out the straight version of the Dolce and Gabbana ad. The kiss at the end is a very quick innocent one. It's easy to see why the ASA didn't see cause for the offense.