The ASA act on complaints made by the public (anyone can make a complaint) and take action where necessary. If they judge an advertisement to be in breach of the UK Advertising Codes, it must be withdrawn or amended and the advertiser must not use the same approach again. As well as working on complaints after an advertisement is published / aired, they also carry out regulatory activities to make sure advertisers stay within the set rules.
In 2011, the ASA considered 31,458 complaints covering around 22,397 cases. Their work led to 4,591 ads being changed or withdrawn.
Below is a chart showing the complains for 2012 in each media area. It shows how many cases were brought to the ASA's attention and how many advertisements were altered or withdrawn.
The vast majority of television advertisements shown in the UK are pre-cleared before they are broadcast. Under their licences broadcasters must take reasonable steps to ensure that the advertisements that they broadcast are compliant with the UK Code of Broadcast Advertising.
If the ASA judges an advertisement to be in breach of the UK Advertising Codes, the advertisement must be withdrawn or amended. The vast majority of advertisers comply with the ASA’s rulings and act quickly to amend or withdraw an advertisement is it breaks their codes.
If advertisers or broadcasters do not comply with the ASA's rules not only do they face public backlash from bad publicity they could also be fined. They could also be referred to Ofcom, who in severe cases could revoke their licence.
Maybelline:
In 2011, a makeup advertisement for Maybelline cosmetics, featuring supermodel Christy Turlington, was banned after complaints. The complaints stated that the advertisement did not represent the results that the product could actually achieve. ASA confirmed that the advertisement was misleading, without the aid of before and after shots. It ruled that the advertisement breached the advertising standards code for exaggeration and for being misleading, and banned the advisement from future broadcasting.
Apple:
Media giant Apple has been involved in two major rulings by the ASA. In 2004 Apple claimed to be selling "the world's fastest personal computer". Their Power Mac G5 system was judged to be unsubstantiated and this slogan was dropped.
In 2008, an advertisement for the iPhone was banned because of false claims that it could access "all of the Internet". The iPhone could not support of major plug-ins such as Flash, therefore access to some programmers were restricted.
How could this affect the advertisements that I reviewed?
The four television advertisements that I have featured on this blog were created by advertisers. These advertisers have to be licensed in order to produce advertisements for television. They have to follow the codes in the UK Code of Broadcast Advertising. If any of these companies breached these codes they would be accountable to the ASA and would need to make changes to their advertisement or withdraw the advertisement.
The advertisement for E-Lites electronic cigarettes is shown on UK television although advertisements featuring normal cigarettes are banned. Cigarette advertising was banned on UK televison in 1965 and cinema advertising followed in 1986. The ASA say that "the new wave of e-cigarette products is set to prove a controversial test of its rules."
References:The four television advertisements that I have featured on this blog were created by advertisers. These advertisers have to be licensed in order to produce advertisements for television. They have to follow the codes in the UK Code of Broadcast Advertising. If any of these companies breached these codes they would be accountable to the ASA and would need to make changes to their advertisement or withdraw the advertisement.
The advertisement for E-Lites electronic cigarettes is shown on UK television although advertisements featuring normal cigarettes are banned. Cigarette advertising was banned on UK televison in 1965 and cinema advertising followed in 1986. The ASA say that "the new wave of e-cigarette products is set to prove a controversial test of its rules."
"As tobacco and smoking are areas [we] are keen to ensure that advertising upholds high standards of responsibility, we also have rules restricting products similar to tobacco products, references to smoking or tobacco products and the promotion of smoking in general," an ASA spokesman said. "As it stands, it is our view that the advertising of e-cigarettes on TV is likely to be severely restricted, so the kinds of claims and images that could be used to promote them is incredibly limited." Trevor Field, the marketing director at E-Lites, said that it is the first to run a TV ad "relating to smoking" in the UK since 1965 and admits that the goal is not to help smokers stop.Promoting tobacco products in TV commercials is banned by the ASA's advertising code, but it does not prohibit the depiction of cigarettes.
"Obviously it is important for us to comply with all advertising regulations," said Vince McSweeney, executive creative director at McCann Birmingham.
Nice blog on TV Advertisement thanks for sharing the information with us.
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