One of the great pastimes for us Australians, a nation of good-humoured larrikins, is complaining. Vociferously and about just about anything, we absolutely love to complain. As a result, it leads to busy and (one suspects) well-paid careers for ombudsmen. It also means that when it comes to public-facing targets of complaints like advertisements, the body responsible for regulating content, Ad Standards, makes public its determinations on complaints. In the spirit of transparency, your correspondent rounded up some of the funny, egregious and occasionally ridiculous complaints from the past year.
There were a number of honourable mentions that didn’t make it into this list, including parents concerned over influencer Abbie Chatfield’s eggplants in an Uber Eats ad, Toyota getting slammed for promoting safe driving, and streaming platform Binge being accused of promoting incest over a billboard for HBO’s House of the Dragon that read: “He’s a 10, but he’s your uncle”.
AHHH! A burger!
WA-based chicken takeaway chain, Chicken Treat (part of the Craveable Brands group, which also owns Red Rooster, Oporto and Chargrill Charlie’s), seemed to be kicking goals over the past couple of years, opening their first stores in NSW in 2023.
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