The Copy Consultant
25 January 2006
The fourth in our series of articles looking behind the scenes of the advertising regulatory system, takes a look at the work that is done to try to prevent problematic advertising from ever seeing the light of day. Dan Watt discusses the role played by the Copy Advice team ...
The Copy Advice team was set up the Committee of Advertising Practice – the industry arm of the self-regulatory system – to give free advice to advertisers and publishers on new non-broadcast advertisements. Unlike radio and TV advertising, it is not compulsory for all non-broadcast advertisements to be pre-vetted – lucky for us as it estimated that over 2 billion pieces of non-broadcast advertising appears in the UK each year. That said, there are some advertisers who are required to get their advertising pre-cleared by us before the publishers will accept them, for examples those subjected to the poster pre-vetting procedure because they have had complaints upheld against their posters on the grounds of taste and decency.
All enquiries are dealt with on a first come, first served basis with the vast majority being dealt with within 24 hours of being sent. We get enquiries covering every sector, issue and medium that the ASA may receive complaints on with regard to non-broadcast advertising – anything from a publisher being concerned at a claim that an advertiser wishes to make in their ad to an advertising agency wanting to run an idea that they’ve had for a sales promotion by us before selling it to a client. Or we may be contacted by an advertiser wondering what kind of evidence they would need to hold to support a specified claim. Whatever stage the ad is at, as long as it hasn’t already been published, we will give advice. We’re fortunate to share the ASA’s database so we’re able to give advice based on the most up-to-date rulings that the ASA Council has given.
If we spot a potential problem with any of the ads that we look, we will suggest possible amendments that remove the problem without infringing too much on the message or style of the ads. Ultimately, unless the advertiser is required to have their advertising pre-vetted, all that we are doing is offering advice, so the advertiser is not obliged to do as we suggest. However, if the ASA later receives a complaint on the same matter, it will be noted that the advertisers had chosen to ignore the advice that was given to them.
In the unlikely event that the phones have gone dead, there are no fax requests and all the e-mails have been dealt with, we ensure that the online database which is available on the CAP website – Advice Online – is updated. The database contains hundreds of entries each providing an overview of the issues to take into account when putting together an ad for a given product.
The team also plays a big role in giving presentations to those working in the advertising industry, explaining ASA’s decisions and providing advice and guidance on how to avoid breaches of the CAP Code. Recently CAP has launched a new series of presentations aimed at dispensing specialised advice in short, early morning seminars. They’re proving popular though we’re all not sure about the 8am starts!
Officially, we deal with queries between 9.00 and 5.00 but we’ll still be found working hard at 6pm. We try to ensure that there are no enquiries left over at the end of day so that we’ll be ready to start afresh the next morning.
If you would like to contact the Copy Advice team you can email a specific request or copy to copyadvice@cap.org.uk, phone them on 020 7492 2100 or fax them on 020 7404 3404.