Reports & surveys

We survey media and industry sectors to check the compliance rate and identify any potential problems. Our research is usually targeted towards sensitive sectors or those that have a history of problems.  If we find ads that break the Code, we contact the advertisers and the clearance centres in the case of broadcast advertising, asking them to ensure that breaches are removed from ads.

Thanks to the commitment of industry to advertise responsibly, our surveys show that the overwhelming majority of ads, more than 97% on average, are compliant with the rules.

Our latest regulatory statements include: 

• Online Behaviour Advertising 
  New rules around Online Behavioural Advertising (OBA) will be included in the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing from 4 February 2013.
• Digital Remit Extention
  Document detailing the new remit and sanctions.

Our latest reports include:

• CAP review: Use of children as brand ambassadors and in peer-to-peer marketing
  The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) has now completed and published its year-long review into the use of children as brand ambassadors and in peer-to-peer marketing
• Digital Media Survey 2011
  A survey conducted across a range of company websites in eight broad sectors, in the two months before the ASA’s remit was extended to include companies’ marketing claims on their own websites. It will serve as a benchmark survey against which the 2012 follow-up survey will be compared.
• Gambling Advertising Survey 2010
  A survey of ads from the gambling sector appearing in the media in July 2010, showing a compliance rate of 96.1%.
• Alcohol Advertising Survey 2009
  A sample survey of alcohol ads appearing across media in the pre-Christmas period 2009, revealing a compliance rate of 99.7%.
• Food and Soft Drink Advertising Survey 2009
  An assessment of over 1,000 ads during October 2009 appearing across media, to measure their compliance with the content rules relating to food and soft drink advertising.
• Health and Beauty Product and Therapies Advertisements Survey 2009
  A survey of broadcast and non-broadcast ads for health and beauty products and therapies, completed in February 2009.
• Alcohol advertising survey 2008
  A survey of alcohol ads across all media appearing in the pre-Christmas period 2008.
• Video games advertising survey 2008
  An investigation into video game advertising, conducted following a recommendation from the Byron Review.
• Sales promotion survey 2008
  An assessment of sales promotion appearing in supermarkets, newspapers, magazines, and e-mails from April – May 2008.
• Food and soft drink advertising survey 2008
  A survey to measure compliance with content rules for food and soft drink product advertisements.
• Environmental claims survey 2008
  The ASA’s first survey of environmental claims appearing in ads, undertaken following a follows a significant rise in complaints about “green” and ethical claims.
• Digital media survey 2008
  A survey to determine the compliance rate of online and digital media advertisements.

Research that is five or more years old can be found in the ASA’s Archived reports and research section.