ASACAP

Regulatory system at a glance

The UK advertising industry is respected and emulated around the world, not only for its creativity and effectiveness, but also for the well-established system of self-imposed controls it has developed for advertising.

The system is both self-regulatory (for non-broadcast advertising) and co-regulatory (there is a co-regulatory partnership with Ofcom for TV and radio advertising). Compliance with the Advertising Codes is not voluntary and all upheld adjudications are strictly enforced.

The system is widely recognised by Government, industry, consumers, the Courts and partner regulators, for example the OFT and Ofcom, as the means for providing consumer protection against misleading, offensive or harmful advertising.

How it works

The self-regulatory system is based on a concordat between advertisers, agencies and the media owners that each will act in support of the highest standards in advertising. It is not a voluntary system.

The advertising regulatory system takes a 360° approach to regulation. This incorporates training and guidance; pre-publication advice and clearance; proactive monitoring of advertisements and, of course, an effective complaints and investigations procedure.

The Advertising Codes are written and maintained by two industry bodies, the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP). CAP is responsible for the non-broadcast Code and BCAP is responsible for the TV and radio Codes.

The Codes cover marketing communications across all media: 

• Print and press ads 
• Posters 
• Direct mail
• Television and radio ads
• Competitions, special offers
• E-mail and text messages
• Internet (banners, pop-ups, virals, sponsored search but not company sites)
• Teleshopping
• Cinema commercials
• Promotions

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is the independent body that regulates advertising in all media by administering the UK Advertising Codes. Its mission is to maintain high standards by ensuring that advertisements, wherever they appear, remain legal, decent, honest and truthful.

As well as proactively monitoring ads, the ASA accepts complaints from the public and industry about ads that seem to have breached the Codes. One complaint is enough to trigger an investigation, which could lead to the withdrawal of an ad campaign.

All complaints are considered fully and those that bring to light possible Code breaches will be sent for thorough investigation. Decisions on investigated ads are made by the independent ASA Council, chaired by the Rt Hon Lord (Chris) Smith of Finsbury. The investigation process is transparent and all adjudications are published weekly on the ASA website and attract significant media attention.

When it upholds a complaint against an advertisement, the ASA can ban the ad or require the advertiser or broadcaster to amend or schedule the advertisement appropriately. The ASA is widely recognised as being responsible for controlling marketing communications in all media in the UK and works closely with its statutory regulatory partners, the Office of Communications (Ofcom) and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).

The two sides of the regulatory system work together to prevent breaches of the Codes and provide training and advice to keep advertising standards high.

The system is entirely funded by industry, through a levy of 0.1% on display advertising space and airtime and 0.2% on Royal Mail Mailsort contracts. The levies are collected by two arm-length funding bodies, the Advertising Standards Board of Finance (Asbof) and the Broadcast Advertising Standards Board of Finance (Basbof).

Pre-publication advice and pre-broadcast clearance

CAP provides a free pre-publication advice service for advertisers, agencies and media, called Copy Advice. Copy Advice is an essential service for advertisers, agencies and media owners who want to check how their non-broadcast ads or multi-media concepts measure up against the CAP Code. Provided by the people who write the rules with guidance from those who enforce them, this unique service is fast, free and confidential.

TV and radio advertisements are centrally pre-cleared by Clearcast and the Radio Advertising Clearance Centre (RACC) respectively. These bodies have been set up and funded by the broadcasters to help ensure compliance with the Codes. This means that the vast majority of advertisements are compliant with Codes before they are aired.

Clearcast and RACC approval does not prevent the ASA from acting on ads that seem to be problematic.

Cinema also has a pre-clearance mechanism, provided by the Cinema Advertising Association (CAA). The CAA clears ads for every cinema in the UK.

Benefits of the system

The UK advertising self-regulatory system brings great benefits for consumers and for business: 

• Easier for consumers – The establishment of a single complaints body has made it easier for consumers to negotiate the complaints system.
• Free to the taxpayer – The system is funded by the industry, not the tax payer, via the 0.1% levy on the cost of advertising space.
• Simpler for advertisers – Not only do advertisers have to deal with just one body during the complaints process; nearly all aspects of advertising regulation are under one roof (CAP and BCAP code development, Copy Advice, complaints and investigations, and compliance and monitoring). Currently, all the advertising Codes are being reviewed by CAP and BCAP to ensure they remain relevant and robust, yet simple to use.
• Technology neutral and high standards for all approach – The advertising self-regulatory system deals with advertisements in all media, meaning it is technology neutral. We believe that all ads should be subject to the same high standards regardless of the media in which it appears (while taking into account the context and audience of the marketing communication).
• Harmonious decision making – Cross media adjudication decisions are made by a single organisation.
• Corporate social responsibility – Effective self-regulation works because it is driven by a sense of corporate social responsibility amongst advertising stakeholders. The advertising industry has a strong interest in maintaining the system and a level playing field, not least to maintain high levels of consumer trust in advertising, but also because advertising self-regulation is a cost-effective way to resolve grievances, without the requirement for expensive lawyers.