Quick Update on the "Lisa" ad, ALAC and the ASA decision

I received my response from the ASA in regard to my complaint about the "Lisa" advert ALAC is running, it was in the post on Saturday (I just forgot to clear the letterbox). The ASA response I've had is the same as what Joanna received, and is actually worse than the reply from ALAC. I' using the word "response" here, but in fact it doesn't respond to the points I raised. For one thing, the decision "not to proceed" with my complaint was taken before I actually made it...

I'm going to write more about this soon. I'm going to write back to ALAC, and I'm going to at least write back to the ASA and possibly to the Complaints Appeal Board as I have issues with their process as well as the actual decision made. I want to do it all when I have time to do it properly, preferably in one go. Wriggly hasn't been cooperating with my need for typing time lately (really, he is acting like a total baby) but we are getting back to our vague routine again now. There is something intrinsically wrong with a world where I have to wash sleepy suits before I can blog ;-)

While I've been off blog a number of others have written about this whole situation, and I firmly recommend that you have a gander, if you haven't already.

• Motivated by fury not despair - Joanna at Hubris
• Just fuck you ALAC. Fuck you and fuck the horse you rode in on - QoT at Ideologically Impure
• Nobody likes a smart ALAC - our own Anna McM
• Asking for it - Jill from Jilling Off (sorry I missed this in earlier round-ups)
  What's wrong with this picture, ALAC? - Anna McM uses ALAC's logic on Asians instead of women

And I've just found this approval of the Lisa ad from Family Planning, who seem to ignore the fact that it isn't about drunken sex it's about rape. Presumably this is one of the social agencies that ALAC reckoned they had discussed the ad with before screening. I'd be really angry if I wasn't so sad.

Particularly powerful are the personal stories of women who have been assaulted whilst drunk, and the guilt they felt; guilt ALAC's advertisement is reinforcing and fuelling. It's an angle, an important one, that I hadn't considered until Anna brought it to my attention, and I think it strikes at the heart of the problem with the "Lisa" ad - it encourages women to feel responsible for rape, and it discourages them from going to the police.

Ok, hopefully more tomorrow or the next day. If anyone else is considering going to the Complaints Appeal Board of the ASA then you have to do so within a fortnight of receiving the decision. That's all I know about the process at this stage, but I'll find out more.