Target, Witchery and Bras N Things have all had to answer to the advertising watchdog this year - so who's making the complaints?
The latest data from the Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) suggests that Blue Mountains residents were twice as likely to lodge a complaint than the national average.
The data analysed complaints received by the watchdog about discrimination in advertising last year.
Ads perceived to be discriminatory made up 40 per cent of the total complaints received from that area, compared to the national average of 18 per cent.
ASB chief executive officer Fiona Jolly said most concerns centred around discrimination of gender, race and occupation.
“People in the Blue Mountains also had a high level of concern over sex, sexuality and nudity in advertisements, with 30 per cent of considered complaints relating to this issue. Again higher than the national rate of 23 per cent,” she said.
Women made most of the complaints. That is true across the state but a higher proportion of complaints in the Blue Mountains came from women (65 per cent) than the NSW average of 57 per cent.
The majority of complaints were about commercial TV advertisements, with 60 per cent of complaints relating to this medium, and a further 10 per cent relating to pay TV ads.
Leura and Springwood were the areas where most complaints originated, with 15 per cent of the region’s complaints coming from each area.