Regulatory body

The Advertising standards authority is the independent body which

regulates all advertising in the UK across all media.
You need to have a detailed understanding of how this regulatory body
works and the codes of practice as this will have an influence on the plans
for your advertising campaign.
How is the ASA funded? The ASA is funded by advertisers through an
arms length arrangement that guarantees the ASAs independence.
Collected by the Advertising Standards Board of Finance (Asbof) and
the Broadcast Advertising Standards Board of Finance (Basbof), the
0.1% levy on the cost of buying advertising space and the 0.2% levy
on some direct mail ensures the ASA is adequately funded to keep
UK advertising standards high. We also receive a small income from
charging for some seminars and premium industry advice services.
We receive no Government funding and therefore our work is free to
the tax payer.
What does the ASA do? The Advertising Standards Authority is the
UKs independent regulator of advertising across all media. We apply the
Advertising Codes, which are written by the Committees of Advertising
Practice. Our work includes acting on complaints and proactively checking
the media to take action against misleading, harmful or offensive
advertisements.
How does self-regulation of non-broadcast advertising work?
Self-regulation means that the industry has voluntarily established
and paid for its own regulation.
The system works because it is powered and driven by a sense of
corporate social responsibility amongst the advertising industry.
Advertisers have an interest in maintaining the system because:
Making sure that consumers are not misled, harmed or offended by
ads helps to maintain consumer confidence in advertising.
Advertising that is welcomed by consumers is good for business.
It maintains a level playing field amongst businesses. It is important
for fair competition that all advertisers play by the same rules.
Maintaining the self-regulatory system is much more cost-effective
for advertisers than paying the legal costs of a court case.
The role of the industry is to write the Advertising Codes, help
advertisers to comply with the rules and to pay for the system.
However, the industry does not administer its own rules. It has
established the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) as the
independent adjudicator.
Advertising self-regulation is flexible in its scope and is able to adapt
to market conditions. This is particularly important in the fast-
moving advertising industry.
The Code reflects requirements in law, but also contains many rules
that are not required by law at all. The advertising industry has
chosen to exercise this self-restraint not only to make further
legislation unnecessary, but also as a public demonstration of its
commitment to high standards in advertising.
Because the system works successfully, the UK Government has not
needed to regulate directly. However, that doesnt mean that the
views of politicians or civil society and the wider industry - on
advertising regulation are unimportant, so we actively seek out their
views on our work.

How does regulation work after an advertisement has

appeared and what sanctions can the ASA impose? Even
though many steps are taken to ensure ads are in line with the
Codes before they are aired or published, consumers have the right
to complain about ads they have seen, which they believe to be
misleading, harmful or offensive.
The ASA can act on just one complaint. We dont play a numbers
game: our concern is whether the Codes have been breached.

The ASA has had complaints to change certain ads from barnardos
due to inappropriate pictures. These include- Barnardos, 2008 The
ASA received 840 complaints about this Barnardos ad campaign,
which was designed to raise awareness of domestic child abuse. The
TV campaign featured repeated scenes of violence and drug-taking,
which many viewers found upsetting and not suitable for broadcast
at times when children were likely to be watching. We did not doubt
the distress or offence described by many of the complainants.
However, we considered the ads were appropriately scheduled and
their aim justified the use of strong imagery.
Tesco also had a lot of complaints for their adverts because of their
small print on their clothing lines.
Tesco Stores Ltd
Tesco House
Delamare Road
Cheshunt
Hertfordshire
EN8 9SL
Date:
2 March 2016
Media:
National press
Sector:
Retail
Number of complaints:
1
Agency:
Bartle Bogle Hegarty Ltd
Complaint Ref:
A15-316872
Ad
A national press ad for Tesco, seen in October 2015, was headlined
Never pay more for your branded shop. Text below stated, If its
cheaper at Asda, Morrisons or Sainsburys, well take the money off
your bill at the till. It included an image of a character associated
with a flour brand holding an icon that carried the text Brand
Guarantee.
Small print included Min. basket of 10 different products, including
1 comparable branded product. Total price of branded grocery shop
compared with Asda, Morrisons and Sainsburys and if cheaper
elsewhere the difference will be taken off your bill .
Issue
Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd, who believed the ad did not make the
minimum purchase restriction sufficiently clear, challenged whether
the claim Never pay more for your branded shop was misleading.