Australian consumers sent more than 3,764 complaints into Ad Standards in 2023, 45% of the number of complaints in 2022.

In its annual review of operations, the self-regulatory arm of the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) documented that 259 ads were assessed by the Ad Standards Community Panel last year, with 81 ads found to be in breach in at least one advertising code.

A billboard featuring OnlyFans creator WC Savage was the most complained about ad of the year, receiving 350 community complaints, followed by a spot from Red Rooster with 214, and an Extra ad from Mars Wrigley with 126. Billboards from LoveHoney (99) and Activision Blizzard (44) also made the top 5. All of the top five most complained about ads had their cases dismissed.

According to Ad Standards, the primary issues raised in complaints were related to sex, sexuality, and nudity (42%), followed by violence (17%), and then health and safety (10%).

By advertiser category, Food & Beverage (20%) was the most complained about, followed by the Sex industry (17%) and Entertainment (7%).

Ads that showed on free-to-air TV (46%) received the highest proportion of complaints, followed by billboards (17%) and social media (10%).

This year Ad Standard celebrates 25 years of operation.