Knowing who to complain to–a complex complaints landscape
8.
The regulatory landscape relating to commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood is complex, leading to an equally complex complaints process for the different media, business sectors and issues involved. As can be seen from Figure 13, it is not easy for a member of the public to determine to whom they should complain and, although the regulators do make efforts to inform the public about their services, it can be no surprise that the public are sometimes confused.
Figure 13: Overview of the complaints landscape on taste and decency
Sources:Websites of regulators, Directgov (2)
Advertising
9.
Advertising regulation has perhaps the most straightforward system as the industry has a one—stop shop regulator in the form of the Advertising Standards Authority. The ASA regularly measures attitudes and awareness of its own brand and services, and its most recent survey in 2009 showed that nearly one in five people could spontaneously name the ASA and recognise its logo (Advertising Standards Authority, 2011 (3)), while an online
