The food and drink sector has seen complaints against its advertising campaigns rise from 445 in 2001 to 1,222 last year.

In 2002, the Advertising Standards Authority received a record total of 13,959 complaints relating to over 10,000 advertisements, up 10.8% on 2001 complaints.

In its annual report for 2002, the ASA said investigations increased by 43% with 4000 ads requiring action by the ASA.

The ASA said misleading claims were the major cause of complaints with 852 out of 3,202 formally investigated. Leisure remained the most complained about sector. Health and Beauty remained third with 1,400 complaints in total.