just on the day her article appeared.Of course there are some advertisers - such as Benetton - who set out to shock. A recent poster for Gossard bra Glossies featured a woman in black underwear beside the copy line, "Who said a woman can't get pleasure from something soft?" One hundred and seventy- seven complaints were lodged before Daily Mail columnist Lynda Lee Potter attacked the campaign in print. The tone of the ads was right for the twentysomething package holiday market which it targeted, they claimed. The ASA upheld complaints about the posters but not about the press ads in youth and style magazines "We don't overreact.

That sort of execution on posters upset a lot of people," Graham Fowler insists.Another factor is media coverage. While just 41 per cent believed the public would find the Club 18-30 posters acceptable, 65 per cent of the public gave the ads their OK.A critical factor often overlooked when deciding whether or not an ad causes offence is its context, Fowler observes. "A large poster prominently displayed will inevitable be seen by a broad range of people who have no choice but to see the ad as they pass by, while the same ad appearing in a specialist magazine whose readership is that advertiser's exact target market, need not cause offence."When the ASA upheld complaints against Club 18-30, many within the advertising industry accused it of being po-faced and humourless. Industry figures present were asked what they thought the public's response to certain ads might be - and in most cases, as the table shows, Adland erred on the side of caution. What might at first seem acceptable, might not in retrospect." Too worthy to be true? Not according to BSC research last year, which showed half of complainants express concern for others - most often children - when registering their protests."Matters of taste and decency are highly subjective and change over time," Mr Fowler adds. (When challenged, one senior creative director of a leading London ad agency would admit to being offended by only one thing: "Mediocrity".) Even so, the disparity between agency and public attitudes to taste is not as great as some believe, if an ASA conference to launch the research yesterday is anything to go by. The Anglican organisation, whose aim is to promote the family, is currently involved in an ecumenical media awareness project.

"Many more things give offence these days than 20 years ago," Ms Paul believes. "And the effects are evident throughout society.""Attitudes change when you consider the likely effect on others," says ASA external affairs manager Graham Fowler, "notably on older relatives or young children. There could be side-effects which might be all too easily overlooked by the liberal-minded who work within the industry, and who may be in danger of losing touch with the outside world."They don't seem to understand what is not generally acceptable," explains Lynette Paul. Ridiculous? Don't forget that the power of advertising lies in its ability to make us aspire to the product it sells, points out Lynette Paul, spokesman for the Mothers Union.