Advertising Controls and Regulation

You have seen that advertising is all around us, and that it is very difficult for consumers to ignore the messages that are being communicated via those ads. Concern is frequently expressed - by politicians, teachers, parents, law-enforcers, and religious leaders - about the content of those messages and the influence that they may have on audiences, especially vulnerable sectors of the population. Advertising is an important part of the effects debate, and the different positions may be summed up like this:

The big corporations spend lots of money to reassure us that their advertising does not damage our mental health. However, there is a lot of opposition to their viewpoint, and many critics say that advertising creates false needs and wants, not choice. Many people simply find advertising intrusive, whether it's a roadside billboard or an online pop-up.

Opposition to Advertising

You will find organised resistance at the following websites.

Check out what these organisations have to say about the way advertising dominates our culture and sets our value systems.

• Adbusters - a cultural response to advertising. Look long and hard at the spoof ads.
• CommercialAlert.org - collection of articles and opposition to the concept that "Decadence is brought to us by the marketplace"

As well as generalised opposition to the principles and practice of advertising, specific concerns are raised about individual ads and whole campaigns. There has been notable opposition to the advertising of

• tobacco
• alcohol
• children's toys
• prescription drugs

Alcohol and tobacco advertising is now either banned outright or faces strict limits in most countries. Other concerns include:

• Use of stereotypes, particularly of gender and race, in a negative way
• Emphasis on anti-social values (eg winning at all costs, promotion of products which have a negative effect on the environment)
• Emphasis on conforming to an unrealistic ideal
• Representation of only one set of values as being normal and desirable (eg thin, blonde). Everything else is abnormal/undesirable
• Dishonest claims about what a product can do (eg diet pills)
• Recommendation of illegal practices (eg drug-taking, drink driving or underage drinking)
• Use of images or language that may be offensive to the beliefs (eg religious) of others
• Use of images or language which is too graphic, in terms of sex and violence, for a mass audience

In societies which allow freedom of speech, little can be done in legal terms (unless something is obscene, libels an individual or organisation, or makes claims which can be proved to be fraudulent) to stop a particular advertisement. However, there are ways and means of voicing your objection to an ad. You will see some of them on the Adbusters site, and there are other, more official, channels.

Regulation

There is much discussion over who is more to blame for the content of advertising - the companies that pay for it or the agencies that generate the copy and choose the images? The agencies themselves agree that they must take the main responsibility and have adopted a system of self-regulation, in common with other media institutions such as the Press. Many countries have an Advertising Standards Authority, whose job it is to listen to complaints from the public, and establish whether or not a particular ad or campaign should be withdrawn.

The problem with this system is obvious: the ASA only acts AFTER an ad has appeared, and AFTER a certain number of people have complained about it. Therefore, by the time they rule that an advertisement is offensive, or unlawful, the campaign may well be over and the ads long gone. There is always controversy about how effective the ASA can be. One the one hand they are slow, but on the other they do deal fairly with all complaints, and any individual is free to complain - no expensive legal process is involved. But not everyone is happy with this system -

Cheer Up Love, It May Never Happen - Guardian article on how the ASA fails to take sexism seriously

Regulation of Advertising in the UK

UK — www.asa.org.uk

You will be examining the process and criteria for complaining about advertising that might have offended you.

You need to start by exploring the ASA site and carefully reading one or two of the complaints that they have dealt with recently. Focus on complaints where you are familiar with the original ad and can understand why someone might find it offensive.

Then, you need to find an ad that you agree is inappropriate or offensive in some way. You need to write a letter of complaint, explaining your objections. Pay close attention to the ASA guidelines.

You can find examples of ads at

• The Creative Lounge - from The Guardian.

In class, you will pair up with another student and swap letters. You will then 'switch heads' and respond to your partner's complaint on behalf of the ASA. You will need to refer to their criteria carefully and make a decision as to whether the complaint should be upheld or not. You will write a second letter, explaining your decision.

Hand your letters in, in pairs.