These blog posts will give you an overview of the rules and regulations that apply when you want to promote your business, products, and services, the same ones that I help my clients understand and comply with.
To kick off we should start with the people you need to know about in this sector: The Regulators.
This is a 4 part series looking at the 2 main players governing advertising and marketing: the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
Who are they, what do they do and… more importantly… why you should care!
Let’s start with the ASA. Or the Advertising Standards Authority to give them their full name.
So who are they?
The ASA is the independent regulator for advertising in the UK and has been overseeing ads for over 60 years. They operate in two ways:
1) Self-regulation: the advertising industry voluntarily set up and pays for the ASA to create and enforce advertising rules in respect of non-broadcast ads, sales promotions, and direct marketing communications.
2) Co-regulation: since 2014 the ASA has been responsible for the regulation of broadcast adverts, so TV, radio, tv text, interactive tv ads, and teleshopping in the UK under contract from Ofcom.
What do they do?
The ASA respond to complaints that ads breach the advertising rules, as well as proactively monitoring advertising across all media. They will investigate and decide if the rules have been broken, which can result in a formal upheld adjudication which is published each Wednesday.
The advertising rules come in 2 forms:
1) the UK Code of Non-Broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing (the CAP Code), which cover all non-broadcast ads, so magazines, billboards, direct marketing, and sales promotions and
2) the UK Code of Broadcast Advertising (the BCAP Code), so TV and radio but also teleshopping, tv test, interactive tv ads and content on self-promotional channels.
These rules have been created by the members of 2 committees, CAP and BCAP, who represent advertisers, media owners and agencies within the sector. Members meet regularly to discuss how the rules are working and help update them when necessary.
The rules reflect legislation to prevent misleading or unfair advertising, but sometimes can go beyond the requirements in the law, aiming to create high standards in the sector.
Both Codes begin with general provisions, for example making sure you can recognise an ad, which is not always simple, rules preventing ads from being misleading, and rules to ensure ads don’t cause harm and/or offence.
Specific sections of the codes cover specific products or services, such as alcohol, medicines and motoring, and the channels of advertising, including promotional marketing and distance selling.
That’s a quick run through the ASA and what they do.
Next time…
… why you need to be aware of the advertising rules, and what can happen if you get it wrong!