Last year, a record 14,080 adverts drew complaints, according to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) annual report, with a Department of Health anti-smoking campaign showing people with fish-hooks in their mouths prompting the highest number of complaints. Its hard-hitting ads led to 774 objections from viewers and readers who found them offensive, frightening and distressing.

The ASA, the independent watchdog for UK advertising, said a record number of ads (2,458) were changed or withdrawn last year, with violence, sex and race the themes sparking most public anger. Offensiveness was the main reason for complaints about broadcast advertising, while misleading ads accounted for nearly half of all complaints.

Adverts from both the Department of Health and the British Heart Foundation were among the top 10 most complained-about. The Department of Health's multi-media campaign showed people with hooks in their mouths, designed to confront smokers about their addiction. But complainants said the ads were too shocking and were particularly concerned about poster campaigns which they feared could frighten children.

The ASA upheld complaints that two of the TV ads were likely to frighten and distress children and that posters had appeared in places where they could easily be seen by youngsters.

A British Heart Foundation advert also received 122 complaints. As part of a national campaign promoting 30 minutes of exercise a day, one ad featured a naked man wearing just a swimming hat and goggles and a woman cuddling on a beach.

Some who objected felt the nudity was offensive and gratuitous and irrelevant to the advertised product, while others said the poster was unsuitable for display where it could be seen by children.

The ASA rejected the complaints, saying the man's genitals were covered and the nudity was not explicit.

With the number of complaints at record levels, up 9.6 per cent on 2006, there are concerns that adverts are becoming more extreme in a bid to grab
people's attention. But by the same token, as we're constantly told about the declining state of the nation's health and rising obesity levels, are shock tactics the best way of getting through
to people?

Richard Peacock, senior creative manager at ICM Creative, believes they can be, as long as they're used responsibly. "If you take the graphic anti-smoking advert with the fish hooks, that works for some people. Perhaps sometimes we need to see a more graphic advert because for a long time we've tried the subliminal approach and it hasn't worked," he says.

"It can be the most effective way of getting your message across but it can also be the most ineffective if you get it wrong. There is a time and a place for shock tactics and it depends on the subject matter, but if it's done correctly then I think it's absolutely acceptable.

"If you go out of your way to try to cause complaints then that's another matter. But if you take something like the drink-driving campaign with the kid in the back who isn't wearing a seatbelt, you don't see the accident but you see the aftermath and it is quite shocking, which means the advert has worked."

He says The Sun advert, which appeared on the side of buses showing a half-naked woman with a 10p piece covering each breast, is a good example of an ad playing to its audience. "There is this culture where people complain without necessarily understanding what the advert is and what its function is."

Nick Ramshaw, managing director of brand and design consultancy Elmwood Leeds, thinks adverts can sometimes go too far. "I do have sympathy with advertisers because with so much competition it's difficult to get your message across, but it's a cop-out to go for shock tactics.

"There are other ways of getting your message across without shocking people.

"It's a bit of a cheap shot, and people know what they are
doing and they know they will benefit from the negative press as well," he says.

"It's about striking a balance between raising the issue and causing offence. But the proliferation of media channels means ad campaigns should be able to target their audience better. You would have thought it would be in their interests do that because it means they'll get a better return on their money."