A television advertisement for St John Ambulance which featured a man choking then dying was the tenth most complained about advertisement in 2012, according to the Advertising Standards Board.

Releasing its annual report today, the ASA said it had received 144 complaints about the advert, which featured a man surviving cancer, only to later die by choking on food – which could have been prevented had someone known first aid. The ASA dismissed the complaints, arguing that the distressing images were justified.

Complaints about television commercials made up more than a third of all the complaints 31,298 reports made to the regulator in 2012. The internet prompted the second-highest number of complaints, trailed by outdoor media in a distant third place. Complaints numbers have remained almost static year-on-year.  

Where there was a spike, however, was in the number of complaints about ‘non-commercial’ advertising – the category in which charity adverts fall. Still in sixth place in terms of sectors overall, the number of complaints about non-commercial advertising rose 61 per cent to 2,058.