1997: French Connection's use of its FCUK trademark challenged the public

he ‘Beaver Espana’ poster campaign by Club 18 – 30 in 1995 was a marked change from earlier advertising by this brand, which had promised merely ‘Whispered good-nights’ and ‘Golden memories’. Suddenly, ‘Sex, sex, sex’ was available for viewing on the high street.

Club 18-30 (1995): Complaints that this new campaign was offensive and socially irresponsible were upheld by the ASA.

 

 
Irn Bru (1998): Nearly 600 people objected that this advertisement was offensive and challenged the implication that the cow would enjoy becoming a burger. The ASA decided the ad was unlikely to cause widespread or serious offence and that an investigation under the Codes was not justified.
The 1994 Wonderbra campaign broke new ground with its sheer 'in your face' impact.
Lee Jeans (1997): Amusing or offensive? Complaints about this ad were not upheld.
Yves Saint Laurent Beaute Ltd (2000): This poster attracted the second biggest complaints tally ever.

Charities often use shocking or hard-hitting imagery to get their message across.

British Safety Council (1995): This leaflet received 1,187 complaints - the most ever received about a single ad.
When the NSPCC came to CAP for Copy Advice with the ads for their ‘Full Stop’ campaign, the proposed strap line was: “I wish you’d died in my womb’. Advice from the Copy Advice team changed this to the left. Still hard-hitting, the ad retained its impact – and the campaign still won awards -the changed ads were less likely to cause serious or widespread offence.
'Scared? You should be. He's a dentist': Complaints about this 1998 ad by the Commission for Racial Equality were not investigated.
 

Barnardo's a British children's charity showed a full-page image of a newborn baby with a hospital tag around its wrist and a large cockroach crawling out of its mouth. The strapline read, "There are no silver spoons for children born into poverty".

Other ads in the campaign feature a baby with a syringe, and one with a bottle of methylated spirits poking out of its mouth.

The children's charity has a history of courting controversy, most famously when it used images of a 10-month-old baby injecting heroin in a press campaign. (banned 2000)

http://society.guardian.co.uk/campaigning/story/0,,1083451,00.html

source: http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/about/history/Reflecting+public+expectations+avoiding+censorship.htm