Task Four - Regulation

 Before adverts are publicised on national TV they must be checked and regulated by Ofcom and The ASA. Ofcom is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has a wide range of powers over things such as radio to TV. The aim of it is to represent the interests of citizens and consumers by protecting them from adverts which may be harmful or offensive. The main areas Ofcom looks at are licensing research, codes and policies, complaints, competition and protecting the radio spectrum from abuse. When dealing with adverts Ofcom will direct you to The ASA. ASA stands for Advertising Standards Agency and came around about 50 years ago. The aim of The ASA is to ensure that all forms of media are legal, decent, honest and truthful. If an advert cannot pass these tests then it is either withdrawn or amended. The ASA covers things such as magazines, newspapers, radio, TV, television shopping channels, posters, cinema, direct mail, Internet, leaflets and brochures, commercial email and Mobile messages, CD Roms, DVDs, videos, faxes and sales promotions. However it does not cover sponsorship, packaging, shop windows, telephone calls, fly-posting, private classified adverts, statutory/public notices, press releases, political adverts or online editorial.

The Advertisement Code has specific regulations on certain types of advert and carefully check that it will not cause harm or be offensive towards the audience. Some of the adverts that need to be regulated carefully are Alcohol, Gambling, Food and soft drinks, Health and beauty and Tobacco. There are also codes that relate to Harm and offence, Environmental claims, Racism, Children and advertising, Scheduling adverts at appropriate times, Displaying adverts in appropriate places, and also Misleading claims. The ASA must look at these types of adverts and decide whether or not they are accurate, inaccurate or misleading and whether or not it causes offence and harm. As well as checking if adverts are appropriate and not offensive, the ASA also handle the complaints of the audience and they act on these complaints if an advert is coming across as harmful, misleading or offensive. Every complaint is taken seriously and even a single complaint can lead to the withdrawal of an advert. Audiences can complain for a number of reasons such as; if they think there is something wrong with an advert they have seen or heard, have difficulty getting goods or a refund for items bought by mail order or through television shopping channels, if they think that a special offer or prize promotion has been unfairly run, if they want to stop mail from companies sent by post, fax, text message or email and finally if they think there is something wrong with the marketing on a company’s website or their social network site. The ASA handled 31,458 complaints about 22,397 different adverts in 2011, after carefully judging them they decided that 4,591 had to be either changed or withdrawn and nearly 94% of these complaints came from members of the public.

The ASA judge adverts against the UK Advertising Codes, these advertising codes are written by the advertising industry through the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP). The members of these committees are drawn from the main industry bodies representing advertisers, agencies and media owners. These Advertising Codes contain a wide range of rules that are designed to ensure that advertising does not mislead, harm or offend and is socially responsible, no matter what’s being advertised. The ASA works on the principle that advertisers must adhere to the spirit as well as the letter of the rules, making it almost impossible for advertisers to find loopholes. The ASA council is the jury responsible for deciding whether adverts are have breached these Advertising Codes.

A particularly controversial advert that was investigated and removed due to content was the 208 Walkers summer holiday advert.

The advert was intentionally made for the promotion of free British Trips when you buy the crisps, it featured Gary Lineker driving an old Routemaster bus which had its roof ripped of after going under a low bridge. The advert was investigated and removed as there were many complaints about it. These complaints were mainly about the fact that watching the advert may be distressing for people who may have experienced similar circumstances or know someone who has. After a number of complaints Walkers agreed to remove the advert to prevent further distress.

A more recent advert that has been banned was the Jaguar advert featuring Tom Hiddleston 'The Art of Villainy'.

This advert shows Tom Hiddleston in a Jaguar Land Rover explaining that it's good to be bad and why British actors make the best villains. Once aired a number of complaints were received stating that the advert encouraged unsafe and irresponsible driving. After research into the case the ASA decided that it was best that the advert was banned, the first part of the advert was acceptable, the ASA stated that it was the second part in which the car is shown to be driving at excessive speeds on a public road and that showing this did, in fact, encourage irresponsible driving, the advert was therefore banned.

Another banned commercial is a recent one from Center Parcs promoting midweek holidays for just £279. The advert featured a family with school age children with small print at the bottom of the screen stating that the offer "excludes school holidays". After various complaints the ASA decided that the advert should be taken down as they argued it encouraged 'irresponsibilty' as the advert promotes taking children out of school to get a cheaper holiday, even after the government had decided to introduce tougher regulations to crack down on term-time absence. Center Parcs argued that taking down the advert was "extremely harsh" and that it was up to parents to exercise judgement regarding their children. Eventually it was ruled out and banned from TV.