Celebrating its 50-year anniversary, the Advertising Standards Agency [ASA] has dealt with over 431,000 complaints and has highlighted the ones that drew the most complaints from viewers.

But the statutory body, responsible for making sure that adverts fall within decency and honesty guidelines, said that a high number of complaints did not necessarily mean a company or an ad agency had breached guidelines.

The ASA does not play a numbers game when judging whether an ad should be banned, it said.

Just because an ad has received a high number of complaints does not mean that it breaches the rules, but the number of complaints certainly gives us a general sense of public opinion and the kinds of themes and images that might not be to everyone's liking.

Yves St Laurent Beaute Ltd 2000
948 complaints – upheldThe ASA agreed that the image was too sexual for public posters, however, it did continue to allow its publication in magazines. ASA
Volkswagen Group Ltd 2009
1,070 complaints – upheld in partThe ASA dictated that the advert, due to its violence, should only be aired after 9pm. ASA
The Christian Party 2009
1,204 complaints – not upheldThe ASA refused to ban this ad from the Christian Party that reads: "There definitely is a God". It said that political party ads were out of its remit. It added that the strapline was an opinion. ASA
Paddy Power plc 2010
1,313 complaints – not upheldComplaints claimed that this advert was offensive to blind people and could encourage animal cruelty. The ASA ruled that it would not ban it as they didn't see enough evidence that it was offensive to anyone. ASA
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