Care for the well-being of children is a commonly cited reason for people making a formal complaint about an advert, a study shows.

The work is published in the Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing.

The representation of children and potential harm caused to them from seeing offensive adverts accounted for 46% of the grounds for complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), according to a study.

The research considered thousands of customer grievances relating to ads from the non-profit sector. Graphic portrayals—such as violence, sexual acts or disease—also appear highly problematic, accounting for a further 20% of complaints. Some depictions of crime, weapons and drugs were also sources of offense.

A team at the University of Edinburgh analyzed 9055 complaints received over a six-year period about adverts from the not-for-profit, third and public sectors—such as charities, government bodies and pressure groups.

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