The Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza recently published an article regarding the number of complaints lodged before the Union of Associations Advertising Council (Zwiazek Stowarzyszen Rada Reklamy) against advertising. The Union is an organisation responsible for advertising self-regulation in the Republic of Poland. The industry standards in marketing communication are defined in the Code of Ethics. This Code contains specific provisions prohibiting, among others discrimination based on sex, religion or nationality, to encourage the use of violence or prohibiting to abuse the trust of the recipient, his lack of experience or knowledge.

The Commission of Ethics in Advertising (KER) is the main body responsible for adjudicating breaches of the Code and rules of advertising. KER is comprised of 30 arbiters nominated by advertisers, media and agencies, these being independent experts in the field of advertising and marketing communication. The simplified system of self-regulation protects consumers against unethical advertising or unfair advertising. Anyone who thinks that an advertising message violates standards set by the KER may lodge a complaint.

According to Gazeta Wyborcza the most controversial ad in 2008 was "Virginity", prepared by the advertising agency "Koledzy" for the clothing company Artman (now owned by the LPP). The campaign promoted a collection of clothes for young people aged 19-25 years, branded as "Virginity". Billboards and posters depicted a young man praying with a rosary in his hand. The words in the background proclaimed: "I know 69 ways to preserve virginity. And you?". Other version of the ad depicted a young girl with a sentence "Guard me, Father" or with "There are 69 ways to preserve virginity" sentence. Konrad Drozdowski who is representing the Union of Associations Advertising Council has told the press that this ad received a total number of 283 complaints.

Second place in the number of complaints filed took the ad titled "Masculinity". It was prepared for Mobilking virtual mobile operator. In an advertising movie that was aired on TV and on the Internet, a scantily dressed woman trying to cut a tree, to shoot with a firearm or trying to repair a car. This campaign, received 37 complaints. Nine complaints concerned advertising of the movie called "Frontiers".



The biggest number of complaints alleged that advertising discriminated on grounds of religious belief (287 complaints), gender (53 complaints), was misleading (32 complaints), and used violence and shock tactics (31 complaints). The Council considered 158 cases as valid in whole or in part. 42 complaints were rejected, and 67 complaints were written in a such way that the judges were not able to determine which ads were referred to.