Royal Mail slates Channel 4 ad

Royal Mail employees have complained to the advertising watchdog against a recent mailer sent out by Channel 4, promoting its Despatches programme, which showed incidents of fraud and theft within the organisation.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has received 13 complaints saying the mailer was degrading to their “character and integrity”. The ASA is investigating the complaints.

The ASA has upheld complaints against a Capital Radio poster, which shows the waist and hips of a woman wearing a pair of jeans, unzipped to reveal pink underwear, with the text: “You’re not getting any till I hear Black Eyed Peas, The Darkness & Eminem.”

The radio station was censured for being offensive. It also ruled that the sexual implication was unsuitable for a poster, which could be seen by children.

In a separate development, Ofcom’s board this week has approved proposals to contract out responsibility for the day-to-day regulation of radio and TV advertisements to a “one-stop-shop” run by the ASA.

If Parliament approves the plan to contract out, the ASA, which has been responsible for supervising the self-regulation of non-broadcast advertising for more than 40 years, will take on its new responsibilities from November 1.