Spiked: "The ASA represents the tyranny of the minority"

Brendan O'Neill of Spiked reacts to the most recent ASA judgements against Ryanair with
trademark candour.

Noting that the ASA sometimes takes action against adverts on the basis of only four or five complaints, he repeats Ryanair's contention that the ASA are ‘bunch of unelected, self-appointed dimwits’ and goes on to note that the UK advertising regulators appear to be far too keen to apease a tiny minority of individuals who wish to act as censors for the majority:

"The existence of organisations like the ASA and the Office of Communications acts as an invitation to squeamish, easily-offended or even self-interested individuals and parties to force through their own personal censorship of things they don’t like. It empowers the prudish, giving their narrow-minded outrage the full weight of officialdom’s backing. The ASA and Ofcom represent the tyranny of the minority. Their starting point is that it is unacceptable to offend anybody."

Now I'm not defending Ryanair's work (or Woolworths similarly poorly judged Lolita bed for that matter) but aren't we long overdue for a backlash against such New Puritanism? Can we not let the market decide whether Ryanair and Woolworths made mistakes?