A Government campaign provoked the highest number of complaints for a single advert in a record year for consumer objections, the advertising watchdog has revealed.

The Department of Health anti-smoking campaign showing people with fish-hooks in their mouths prompted the greatest outrage, according to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) annual report.

The advertisments, designed to confront smokers with the controlling nature of their addiction, drew 774 objections from viewers and readers who found them offensive, frightening and distressing. The watchdog agreed that the campaign was likely to upset children. There is no suggestion the high level of complaints was the result of an organised campaign by pro-smoking groups.

Objections about companies making questionable environmental claims doubled last year as a record 14,080 adverts drew complaints. Advertisers promoting their “green” credentials prompted 556 objections.

The 23 advertisments which overstated environmental claims included a Shell campaign which claimed: “We use our waste CO2 to grow flowers.” The ASA said that the claim was misleading because the amount of waste used for this purpose was “a very small proportion, when compared to the global activities of Shell”.

An advertisment for Bosch dishwashers which implied that washing up by hand in a bowl of water used more water and energy than the dishwasher was also criticised for lacking evidence.

The ASA said a record number of adverts (2,458) were changed or withdrawn last year. Television was the most complained about medium with 9,915 complaints, followed by internet advertising at 2,980 objections.

The most common issues raised by the public about internet content were pricing, availability of goods and charges. However 72 per cent of internet complaints were about the content of websites which falls outside regulatory scrutiny. The ASA is encouraging a debate over what regulation for the internet may be appropriate or practical.

Violence, sex and race were themes which sparked public anger in the top 10 most complained-about adverts of 2007. An MFI television advert showed a woman slapping her husband while a Quorn campaign included a teenager threatening her brother with a fork.

A Cadbury television advertisement for Trident chewing gum drew complaints that it stereotyped and ridiculed black people, while another by Kepak UK showing a woman in her underwear on a rotating sofa attracted objections that it was offensive, sexist and demeaning to women.

Misleading adverts accounted for nearly half of all complaints, while offensiveness was the main reason for complaints about broadcast advertising.

Lord Smith of Finsbury, the ASA chairman, warned that the rising number of complaints about internet content posed a challenge to self-regulation. He said: “These complaints are almost entirely about truth, accuracy, misleadingness and availability, the ‘meat and drink’ of the ASA’s daily work. We hope for an early outcome to the detailed discussions under way within the industry on the development of ways to ensure continued responsibility in advertising in new media settings.”

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