ASAS: Most complained about advertiser in SG used sexually suggestive marketing

Last year, the Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore (ASAS) received 304 pieces of feedback in 2021, including advertising advice, consumer-to-business complaints, B2B feedback and feedback from government agencies. According to ASAS the number of feedback has reduced compared to 2020, which saw 428 pieces of feedback. According to ASAS, in 2021:

The most complained about advertiser in 2021 was a snack and food kiosk company, for which ASAS received eight complaints over the stall's sexually suggestive marketing materials on social media platform.

Following ASAS’s engagement, the advertiser agreed to remove the original social media posts in question.

Food and Beverage

Out of the list of complaints, food and beverage advertisements have been creeping up with the most number feedback. Over the past year, ASAS received 26 pieces of feedback on food and beverage advertisements, making it the joint-most complained about industry, with restaurants not far behind (23).

Collectively, feedback on restaurants, food and beverages made up 16.1% of all feedback received, compared to 2020 (15.9%) and 2019 (14.1%).

Electrical and electronics advertisements

Feedback on electrical and electronics advertisements tied with food and beverage this year. Notably, there was in increase ion D2C brands. Advertisers with an online-only presence, who sell electrical and electronics to consumers for lower prices direct from the manufacturers, received eight pieces of feedback, compared to three in 2020 and none in 2019.

A recurring issue among feedback on advertisements for D2C products was on the pricing promotions, particularly with the nature of the savings that the advertisers claimed consumers could enjoy.

Unqualified headlines such as “60% off”, or slashed-through prices next to the selling price gave consumers the impression that the products were being discounted, when in reality, they were not sold at the higher prices. When ASAS reached out, advertisers clarified that the higher prices were what consumers would have paid for the products if they had purchased through regular retail channels, such as from department stores. ASAS informed these advertisers to amend their marketing statements and make this information clearer so that consumers are not misled.

Health advertisements

On the back of the pandemic that emerged in 2020, ASAS had issued a statement in April 2020 to inform advertisers to be mindful about advertising ethically and against making unnecessary reference to COVID-19 or ‘the virus’ in their advertisements. ASAS said its proactive advisory to the industry and swift follow-ups on feedback on advertising of products that touted COVID-19 claims helped in no small part to protect consumers from overzealous brands and retailers.

Thus, only four such feedback on COVID-19 claims was received in 2021, compared with 37 in 2020. The 25 health-related feedback ASAS received in 2021 concerned product health benefit claims, promotional discounts and product packaging or brochure claims (e.g. for body wash related products).