SECTION 6: HARM AND OFFENCE
Background:
(1) The rules in this Section (and in 7.4: Harm and Distress to Children) are intended to prevent advertising leading to harm. They are also to prevent advertising causing offence to viewers generally or to particular groups in society (for example by causing significant distress, disgust or insult, or by offending against widespread public feeling).
The ASA and BCAP will not act, however, where advertising is simply criticised for not being in ‘good taste’ unless the material also offends against generally accepted moral, social or cultural standards. Apart from freedom of speech considerations, there are often large and sometimes contradictory differences in views about what constitutes ‘bad taste’ or what should be deplored. Nevertheless, licensees may wish to make judgements about matters of taste in order to cater for their particular audiences.
(2) The use of humour may reduce the risk of offence in borderline cases. But where there is a risk of significant offence, humour will rarely help. Nor will it usually reduce the likelihood of harmful influence, particularly on children.
(3)There are additional rules about health, safety and social harm which apply to all advertising but which are focused on particular issues or categories of product or service (such as Driving Standards, Alcohol, Medicines, Food or Lotteries, Pools & Bingo).
6.1 Offence
Advertisements must not cause serious or widespread offence against generally accepted moral, social or cultural standards, or offend against public feeling
Notes:
(1) Although no list can be exhaustive, and values evolve over time, society has shared standards in areas such as:
(a) the portrayal of death, injury, violence (particularly sexual violence), cruelty or misfortune
(b) respect for the interests and dignity of minorities
(c) respect for spiritual beliefs, rites, sacred images etc
(d) sex and nudity, and the use of offensive language. (For further information see the ITC research reports Nudity in Television Advertising and the ASA/ITC report Delete Expletives. The latter reports on attitudes to swearing and offensive language.)
(2) The ASA does not judge cases simply, or even primarily, on the number of complaints received. It makes judgements about the likelihood of widespread offence as well as taking into account the possibility of deep, usually unintentional, offence to sections of the audience which have particular vulnerabilities.
(3) Particular circumstances can result in otherwise unobjectionable material causing offence. For example, a joke may cease to be acceptable if it seems to refer to a recent tragedy or if it appears close to a programme about a serious, related issue. On the other hand, if material might be on the edge of acceptability for a general audience but would be perfectly acceptable to, for example, young adults, careful scheduling in ‘youth’ programmes may be sufficient to avoid causing offence.
(4) Whilst commercials for media products such as CDs and videos must not mislead about their content, any extracts from the products should not cause offence.
6.2 Violence and cruelty
(a) Advertisements must not encourage or condone violence or cruelty
(b) Gratuitous and realistic portrayals of cruel or irresponsible treatment of people or animals are not acceptable
Notes to 6.2:
(1) Careful judgements are needed in this area. ‘Theatrical’ violence (for example, the mayhem common in action/adventure films) is generally acceptable, as is violence which has a stylised ‘cartoon’ or slapstick quality. Problems are more likely to arise where the violence seems to take place in everyday life and to involve ordinary people. However, care should be taken to avoid giving young viewers the impression that copying wrestling, martial arts etc would be safe, harmless fun.
(2) Advertisements must not appear to condone people using violence or aggression to get their own way in everyday life.
(3) Jokes about or involving violence require care and will usually need to be distanced from everyday life by being, for example, in cartoon form.
(4) Scenes which would otherwise be inappropriate may be acceptable to the audience in, for example, charity advertising or newsreel footage in advertisements for news media.
(5) Timing restrictions are necessary for advertising featuring violence. See 7.4.6 (Distress) and 7.4.7 (Scheduling) below.
6.3 Use of animals in filming
Where the behaviour of animals has been controlled for the purpose of making an advertisement, licensees must not show it without satisfactory evidence that the animals were not killed or caused pain or distress
Note:
A vet or other qualified person must care for animals and be able to attest to their well-being during the making of commercials. The RSPCA's Guidelines for the Use of Animals in Advertising may also be helpful.
6.4 Personal distress
Advertisements must not, without good reason, contain material which is likely to cause serious distress to significant numbers of viewers
Notes:
(1) Any appeal to fear should be justified and proportionate. Only mild material is likely to be acceptable in demonstrating, for example, the risks in not buying life insurance. More disturbing material might be acceptable in, for example, road safety advertising. See also 8.2.11(a) (re Medicines etc) and 10.14 (re Doctrinal Advertising).
(2) Scenarios which might be distressing reminders of tragic personal experiences for significant numbers of viewers should be carefully judged. For example, at any given time, many viewers will be recently bereaved.
6.5 Protection of privacy and exploitation of the individual
With limited exceptions, living people must not be portrayed, caricatured or referred to in advertisements without their permission
Note:
Exceptions are made only for:
(a) advertisements for specific publications (books, films or specific editions of radio or television programmes, newspapers, magazines etc) which feature the person referred to in the advertisement. This is provided the reference or portrayal is neither offensive nor defamatory.
(b) generic advertising for news media. Prior permission is not required if it would be reasonable to expect that the individuals concerned would not object. If they do object, however, the advertising must be suspended immediately pending resolution of the complaint.
(c) advertisements where the appearance is brief and incidental, for example in a crowd scene.
6.6 Harmful or negative stereotypes
Advertisements must not prejudice respect for human dignity or humiliate, stigmatise or undermine the standing of identifiable groups of people
Notes:
(1) The ASA and BCAP recognise that the use of stereotypes is an inevitable part of establishing characters within the brief span of a TV commercial. But some stereotypes can be harmful or deeply insulting to the groups in question and care is needed that they do not condone or feed prejudice or perpetuate damaging misconceptions. The ASA and BCAP would not, however, object to the use of stereotypes which, though objectionable to a few people, seem generally acceptable to most members of the group in question as well as to the broader public.
(2) Mild comments or humour about many characteristics can be harmless but sensitivity is always needed. Acceptability may depend on whether the characteristic is simply a matter of personal choice and whether it is of relatively minor significance. For example, hairstyles or hobbies lie at the ‘safer’ end of the spectrum whilst characteristics such as accent, disability, nationality and skin colour are at or towards the ‘sensitive’ end. Even gentle humour involving the latter characteristics has significant potential for offence or distress.
(3) Anything which could encourage or condone the idea that some serious negative characteristic is associated with a particular group must be avoided.
(4) Particular sensitivity is required where the group in question is generally recognised to encounter prejudice. The kind of humour which may be acceptable in other contexts can seem patronising or demeaning in these cases.
(5) Care is needed with stereotypes of children to avoid the risk of taunting or bullying. Children who are ‘different’ physically or in their behaviour, ability or background must not be presented as unpopular or unsuccessful. Nor should they normally be presented as non-users of a product or service or unworthy of it. Even if an advertisement portrays only adults being stereotyped, an ill-judged stereotype could still be harmful to children (for example, by encouraging bullying).
(6) Experience has shown that well-meaning attempts by commercial advertisers to counter prejudice about, for example, race or disability can sometimes backfire. Appropriate guidance should be sought.
(7) Further background about public attitudes to stereotyping can be found in the ITC research report Boxed In.
6.7 Health and safety
Advertisements must not encourage or condone behaviour prejudicial to health and safety and advertisements must not use techniques that may directly harm viewers
Notes:
(1) This does not prevent responsible advertising for products and services which, used to excess or abused, could endanger health or safety.
(2) The use of proper safety equipment or working practices must not be mocked or discouraged.
(3) Tools, hazardous substances etc should normally be shown being used and stored in accordance with their manufacturers’ instructions, relevant law and safety regulations.
(4) Where appropriate, licensees should seek appropriate ‘best practice’ advice relating to activities which can be dangerous, either in all circumstances or if undertaken without proper precautions. Relevant sources might be the codes of statutory bodies, statements of established public policy or published guidance from recognised independent safety organisations.
(5) Photo-Sensitive Epilepsy: See Ofcom’s Guidance Note for Licensees on Flashing Images and Regular Patterns in Television.
6.8 Protection of the environment
Advertisements must not encourage or condone behaviour prejudicial to the environment
Notes:
(1) This does not prevent responsible advertising for products or services which may have adverse environmental impact in normal use or in their manufacturing processes.
(2) See also 5.2.6 (Environmental claims).
6.9 Sound levels in advertisements
Advertisements must not be excessively noisy or strident. The maximum subjective loudness of advertisements must be consistent and in line with the maximum loudness of programmes and junction material.
Broadcasters must endeavour to minimise the annoyance that perceived imbalances could cause, with the aim that the audience need not adjust the volume of their television sets during programme breaks. For editorial reasons, however, commercial breaks sometimes occur during especially quiet parts of a programme, with the result that advertisements at normally acceptable levels seem loud in comparison.
Measurement and balancing of subjective loudness levels should preferably be carried out using a loudness-level meter, ideally conforming to ITU recommendations1. If a peak-reading meter2 is used instead, the maximum level of the advertisements must be at least 6dB less than the maximum level of the programmes3 to take account of the limited dynamic range exhibited by most advertisements.
This rule applies to advertisements broadcast on or after 7 July 2008
Notes:
(1) The relevant ITU recommendations are ITU-R BS1770 Algorithms to measure audio programme loudness and true-peak audio level and ITU-R BS1771 Requirements for loudness and true-peak indicating meters.
(2) Peak-reading meters should be a PPM Type IIa as specified in BS6840: Part 10, Programme Level Meters.
(3) Normal convention for analogue audio is that the peak sound level of programmes is set to be no higher than +8dBm, which corresponds to ‘6’ on a peak-reading meter. The peak sound level of advertisements should therefore be limited to +2dBm or ‘4.5’ on a peak-reading meter. Note: +8dBm corresponds to a digital audio level of -10dB relative to digital clipping level. ITU-R BS.645 and EBU recommendation R68-2000 describe how analogue audio levels should be translated into digital levels.