Reg Bailey

“ New technology is making it increasingly easy for the public to provide, and businesses themselves to seek, feedback informally. In contrast to the formal complaints sections, these informal channels are usually very prominently placed on businesses’ websites. Examples were submitted to the Review of the various interesting and exciting ways in which businesses and consumers are using avenues such as social networking sites, blogs, and message boards to share views on programmes, products and services. ”

“ Aside from actual complaints, there should be ways for parents' voices to be heard more generally on these issues and there is scope for businesses to capitalise on the power of instant feedback from their online activities. It is in all our interests, especially for businesses and regulators, to improve the ongoing dialogue with parents, to respond as meaningfully as possible to their views and to offer timely and transparent feedback, as a way of reassuring parents that it is legitimate to have concerns about such issues.
Knowing who to complain to–a complex complaints landscape
8. ”

“ Parents have told us that they feel they cannot make their voices heard, and that they often lack the confidence to speak out on sexualisation and commercialisation issues for fear of being labelled a prude or out of touch. Business and industry sectors and their regulators need to make clear that they welcome, and take seriously, feedback on these subjects. ”

“ Making it easier for parents to express their views to businesses about goods and services. All businesses that market goods or services to children should have a one—click link to their complaints service from their home page, clearly labelled 'complaints'. ”

“ Consumers Powering Growth' (Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and Cabinet Office, 2011) commits all government regulators to greater transparency, both in providing timely and clear feedback and data to consumers on complaints, and in supporting and nurturing greater customer feedback, including instant feedback through new technologies. ”

“ Given the technology available, regulators and businesses should be able to find more effective ways to encourage parents to tell them what they think, quickly and easily, and to be transparent in telling parents how they are responding to that feedback. Once parents know that their views are being taken seriously, we would expect them to respond positively towards companies that listen to their concerns. ”

“ There is no regulatory framework that covers taste and decency issues in retailing in the way that these are covered for the advertising and broadcasting industries. Legislation through the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 covers only misleading or unfair trading so the Office of Fair Trading and Trading Standards Officers, the main retail regulators, cannot consider issues beyond this remit. ”

“ We found that there is definitely scope on the part of regulators and businesses to ensure that their own complaints mechanisms are easy to find and use, with information about what action is being taken as a result communicated in a timely fashion. ”

“ The ASA regularly measures attitudes and awareness of its own brand and services, and its most recent survey in 2009 showed that nearly one in five people could spontaneously name the ASA and recognise its logo (Advertising Standards Authority, 2011 (3) ) , while an online Ipsos MORI survey in March 2008 found that the ASA was the best known media regulator (Advertising Standards Authority, 2008) . ”

“ Clearly, businesses are being very creative in how they approach informal dialogue with their customers, and both parents and children contributing to the Review thought that such creativity could usefully improve ease of access to formal complaints systems. ”

“ Making Parents' Voices Heard
"I think people need to know that they are not the only ones that feel strongly about unsuitable images for children and that it is a positive thing to express their views." ”

“ The general difficulty in registering complaints seems all the more contradictory in the face of the consistent view among business contributors to this Review that they take customer feedback and complaints seriously and act swiftly, particularly when children's interests are involved. ”

“ The landlords of retail space, notably shopping mall owners, can also consider acting on customer complaints, and we are aware of one example of a shopping mall which insisted that a retailer change their window display as a result of customer complaints. However, we doubt that many parents would be aware of this as a possible avenue of complaint. Print media
16. ”

“ In the face of these barriers, and since the true extent of parental concern is not currently reflected in complaints statistics, it is simply not good enough for businesses and industry to say there is no real issue. ”