Fairness Commission: Most complaints about internet advertising
Internet advertising is increasingly becoming a source of complaints to the Fair Trading Commission. Although the majority of complaints are still filed against direct marketing, the Internet was already the fourth most common reason for contacting the advertising industry’s self-regulatory body in 2008.
Advertising on the Internet is increasingly giving rise to complaints to the Fair Trading Commission. Although complaints against direct marketing are still the most common, the Internet is catching up. In 2008, internet advertising was already the fourth most common reason for appealing to the advertising industry's self-regulatory body. This means that the proportion of complaints about Internet advertising has increased a good six-fold since 2002, as the Swiss Commission for Fair Trading writes in its 2008 activity report published on Monday. In 2002, the Internet accounted for 3.5 percent of complaints; last year it was already 18.4 percent.
In 2008, the Commission received a total of 311 complaints, around 25 more than in the previous year. The most frequent reason for complaint was misleading advertising (27.9 percent), 13.5 percent of all complaints concerned sexist advertising and 10.9 percent concerned competitions. This is a trend reversal: For years, aggressive sales methods topped the list of reasons for complaint. In 2002, aggressive sales methods still accounted for 66.9 percent of all complaints; in 2008, the figure was only 19 percent.
The Fairness Commission did not want to speculate on the reasons for the decline in complaints about aggressive advertising. The report states that it is not possible to determine whether this is due to improved self-regulation by advertisers or the activities of the Fairness Commission.
In 2008, the Commission received a total of 311 complaints, around 25 more than in the previous year. The most frequent reason for complaint was misleading advertising (27.9 percent), 13.5 percent of all complaints concerned sexist advertising and 10.9 percent concerned competitions. This is a trend reversal: For years, aggressive sales methods topped the list of reasons for complaint. In 2002, aggressive sales methods still accounted for 66.9 percent of all complaints; in 2008, the figure was only 19 percent.
The Fairness Commission did not want to speculate on the reasons for the decline in complaints about aggressive advertising. The report states that it is not possible to determine whether this is due to improved self-regulation by advertisers or the activities of the Fairness Commission.
New elections to the Board of Trustees
At its annual meeting, the Board of Trustees, chaired by Carlo Schmid-Sutter, elected six new members to the Board of Trustees.
- Walter Vontobel (NZZ Media) replaces Urs Donatsch as of May 1, 2009
- Christian Merk (Zurich Financial Services) replaces Rolf Münch and at the same time takes over the office of President of the Sponsorship Society
- Hanspeter Kellermüller (Managing Director Swiss Press) replaces J.P. Wiss
- Andreas Reschek (Unilever) has been elected to the Board to replace Anne Zwyssig
- Christian Huldi (Huldi Management) replaces Jakob Nef
- Jürg Bachmann (Goldbach Media) has been elected to the Council in place of Christian Stärkle.
The remaining ten members of the Council were confirmed for a further year.
