Advising CAP (Broadcast) on the Broadcast Codes

The Advertising Advisory Committee (AAC) was established in January 2005 to provide independent, third party-advice to the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP), the body that writes and enforces the rules that control television and radio advertisements. 

BCAP is made up of representatives of broadcasters, advertisers and advertising agencies whereas  the seven members of the AAC are consumer experts and are independent of the advertising industry.  Each of the seven members brings different skills and expertise to the AAC.  You can read more about them below.  The eighth member is Andrew Brown, Chairman of BCAP, who brings his knowledge and experience of the advertising industry to the AAC. 

Our role is to ensure that the concerns of viewers and listeners are taken into account whenever the BCAP Codes are revised or updated. BCAP must ask the AAC for input whenever it decides to change the Codes and must provide a formal response to the advice given. 

We welcome contributions from viewers and listeners outlining their concerns about the content of TV or radio advertisements.  You can write to us directly at contact@advertisingadvisorycommittee.org.uk.  We cannot reply personally to all the e-mails we receive but we shall consider every comment.

The AAC does not judge individual advertisements.  If you want to complain about a specific advertisement you have seen or heard on TV or the radio, please contact the Advertising Standards Authority.  You can make a complaint via its website, www.asa.org.uk.

Elizabeth Filkin
Chair.

Members of the AAC

AAC Chair

Elizabeth Filkin
Elizabeth Filkin chairs the Associaton for Television on-demand (ATVOD) and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Post-Shipman Group, she is is a member of the Regulatory Decisions Committee of the Financial Services Authority. From 1999 to 2002 she was the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. Previously she was a Commissioner for the Audit Commission, The Adjudicator for the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise and Chief Executive of the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux.

AAC Members

Colin Cameron
After a long career in TV broadcasting, mainly at the BBC, Colin is now a consultant and runs a portfolio of work for various companies as Executive Producer, Mentor or Broadcast Consultant.  He is an Honorary Professor of Film and Media Studies at the University of Stirling and has chaired The Research Centre for Television and Interactivity and other not-for-profit organisations.

David Jessel
David Jessel was appointed as a Commissioner to the Criminal Cases Review Commission in 2000. He is the presenter of Channel Four’s Trial and Error programme. A highly-acclaimed journalist, David has won numerous awards for his sensitive and insightful interviews. In 1998, he was awarded the RTS Special Award for his career in investigating miscarriages of justice. David continues to present news programmes for BBC World Television as well as writing documentaries. 

Stephen Locke
Stephen Locke is a specialist consultant on consumer policy and regulation. He currently serves on the boards of the National Consumer Council and PhonePayPlus, the premium-rate telephone services regulatory body, and the Consumer Panel advising the Financial Services Authority.

Previously, Stephen has held a range of senior posts in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors, including the Consumers’ Association where he was Director of Research and Policy. His most recent full-time post was as Director of Advertising and Sponsorship at the Independent Television Commission (ITC), where he played a major part in the preparations for the new Communications Act and the creation of Ofcom, the communications super-regulator.

Colin Munro
Colin Munro is Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Edinburgh, where he teaches and writes on public law.  Previously he was Professor of Law at Manchester University, after appointments at the Universities of Birmingham, Durham and Essex. Colin is a member of the Consultative Council of the British Board of Film Classification and of the Scottish Media Lawyers Society

Laura Simons
Laura Simons is an independent consultant in communications and public relations; she has considerable experience in the not-for-profit sector.  After starting her career in the Citizens’ Advice Bureaux service, Laura moved to the Consumers’ Association. She has worked as Director of Communications at the Motor Neurone Disease Association and Head of PR at the Food Standards Agency. She sat on the ITC Advertising Advisory Committee as an independent consumer representative from 2002 to 2003.

Dr Michael Wilks
Dr Michael Wilks was a general practitioner who joined the Metropolitan Police in 1992 as a senior forensic physician.  He now combines the police work with an active role within the British Medical Association.  He has been chairman of the BMA’s Medical Ethics Committee since 1997 and is Chairman of the BMA’s policy-making body, the Representative Body.  Michael has a long-standing interest in medical ethics and law, in forensic medicine and in the treatment of addictive disease.  He speaks and broadcasts on medical ethics and forensic medicine. 

Nicola Williams
Nicola is a Commissioner for the Police Complaints Commission.  An experienced barrister, she chaired the London Regional Audience Council of the BBC for several years and has been a board member of the Police Complaints Authority.

Andrew Brown
Andrew Brown is Chairman of the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) and of BCAP.  He is a Director of the Advertising Standards Board of Finance and a Director and member of the Executive Committee of the European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA).