The Japan Advertising Review Organization (JARO) recently announced the reception status for the first half of fiscal year 2013 for its "JARO Online Opinion Box."
JARO accepts advertising and labeling inquiries via telephone, fax, and mail. It also operates a "TV Commercial Opinion Box" on its website. In April 2013, it expanded the scope to all media and renamed it the "JARO Online Opinion Box."
The total number of submissions received via the "JARO Online Opinion Box" in the first half of 2013 (April to September) was 1,842. By media type, the total number of issues raised was 2,099, as a single opinion might point out multiple media. Television had the most with 1,217 issues, followed by the Internet with 525, radio with 69, inserts with 57, and newspapers with 36. Television accounted for 58% of the total, and the Internet for 25%. Comparable television figures for the same period last year were 730 cases.
By industry, telecommunications (615 cases) received the most complaints, followed by entertainment/leisure (140 cases), retail (131 cases), general food products (124 cases), and health foods (106 cases). In telecommunications, opinions on mobile phone carrier commercials are typically high every year, but this time, opinions were concentrated even more on commercials for two mobile online game companies (244 and 111 cases, respectively).
The gender breakdown of those seeking advice was 1,260 men and 582 women, a ratio of roughly 7:3, which was nearly identical to that of regular telephone consultations. By age group, while regular consultations saw the highest numbers in the 40s (23%), 50s (17%), and 60s (15%), online consultations showed a higher proportion of people in their 30s (32%), 40s (28%), and 20s (19%), indicating a trend of more consultations from younger people.
