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Please read and follow the instructions on this page to make your complaint. Once you click ‘Yes, Proceed’ at the bottom of this page, you will be taken to our online complaint form. The steps of our complaints process are available here.
Can we deal with your complaint?
The following questions will help confirm that we can deal with your concerns.
Please also read our privacy policy.
We deal with complaints about advertising content and placement. Once you have submitted your complaint, our complaints team will assess it. If there is a case to answer, the advertiser has an opportunity to defend the advertisement. After completing this form, you will not be required to defend your complaint. If a complaint is upheld, we request removal or amendment of the advertisement.
A brief summary of the most common advertising-related laws are in our Advertising Regulation Guide – ASA Regulatory Overview.
Contact our team if you’re not sure. If we can’t help with your concern, we can point you to the right regulator.
We need details of the ad you want to complain about to help us identify it.
If you have trouble uploading a file when you submit this form you may email it to asa@asa.co.nz with reference to your complaint.
Try and note the details next time you see it. If it’s an outdoor advertisement, you could attach a photo of it or let us know where it is.
As part of our process, we need your name, address, email and phone number in case we need to contact you to discuss the complaint. If you are complaining on behalf of an organisation, we also need the name of the organisation.
We do not accept anonymous complaints. One of the reasons for this is to minimise the number of complaints from competitors who are expected to use the Competitor Complaints process.
The name of the complainant is only used in our process if it is an organisation rather than an individual. If your complaint is accepted for further consideration, a copy of your anonymised complaint is sent to the parties involved with the advertisement. This can include the advertiser, the advertising agency and the media company if required.
If you do not wish to provide us with your contact details, you may need to consider another avenue for your complaint.
As part of our commitment to an open and transparent process, we release all our rulings and decisions onto our website. We publish decisions in a regular decisions release email. Your name and contact details will not be in the decision. If your complaint is on behalf of an organisation, the name of the organisation will be in the decision. See our privacy policy for more details.
The ASA is an industry funded organisation supporting responsible advertising. We believe our complaints process is robust and fair. It is important to be open to scrutiny and one way we do this is to publish all the decisions made by the Complaints and Appeal Boards. We include a summary of the text of the complaint, any responses received and the deliberation by the Board.
Recent decisions are searchable on the ASA website. News coverage of our decisions also assists with compliance and raises awareness of the importance of advertising standards.
If you do not feel the ASA is the right regulator to deal with your concerns, there are other avenues you may consider. Click here to view our Advertising Regulation Guide, which includes details of other regulators who may be able to help with your concern.
Drag and Drop (or) Choose Files
For television, radio or on-demand advertisements include the time / date / channel or platform you saw or heard it. For print, digital and outdoor advertisements, include a photo or screen shot of the post (click on ‘Choose File’ button above to attach) or web page with a link to the relevant page.
For social media advertisements, please attach the entire advertisement (a photo or screenshot of a static post, or a recording of the entire social media story or post if it is in video form).
Please note we can only accept these file formats: jpg, jpeg, png or pdf. If you have trouble uploading your file when you submit this form you may email it to asa@asa.co.nz with reference to your complaint.
If you wish to send a hard copy of the advertisement please post it to:
Advertising Standards Complaints BoardPO Box 10675, Wellington 6140
If this complaint is within the Complaints Boards jurisdiction, I agree to waive any right I may have to take (or continue) other proceedings against the advertiser, publisher or broadcaster concerned in any other jurisdiction.More information
I have read and understood the waiver
I confirm I do not, nor am I associated with someone who does, operate a competing business in the same industry as the advertiser and therefore I am not making this complaint as a competitor.
The information that I’ve provided is true and correct to the best of my knowledge *
