New Alcohol Advertising Rules Launched
09 June 2005
New rules and guidance for alcohol advertising are launched today. The rules, for non-broadcast advertising, and the guidance, for TV ads, are the first announced since the one-stop shop for advertising regulation was created in November 2004.
Following a public consultation, the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) has published the BCAP Guidance Notes to help advertisers and broadcasters interpret and apply the TV Alcohol Advertising Rules that were published by Ofcom last year in response to public concerns about under-age and irresponsible drinking.
The new television advertising rules are tougher in four main areas:
- the implication that drinking alcohol is essential to the success of a social occasion
- the extent to which sex may be linked with alcohol
- the extent to which alcohol advertising may appeal to people under 18 years of age, particularly by preventing links to "youth culture"
- they require alcohol to be handled and served responsibly
Also published today, are new rules for the advertising of alcohol in non-broadcast advertisements. Changes to the non-broadcast rules include:
- a requirement to show alcohol being handled and served responsibly
- people shown drinking should not behave in an adolescent or juvenile way and alcohol ads should not reflect the culture of people under 18
- links must not be made between alcohol and seduction, sexual activity or sexual success
All alcohol ads appearing from 1 October 2005 will need to be compliant with the new rule requirements.
BCAP is currently considering comments that it has received on a separate public consultation on the introduction of a new rule on Health and Dietary Claims in radio and TV alcohol advertising. It is hoped that the new rule will be published in August 2005.
BCAP and CAP Chairman Andrew Brown said "These new rules demonstrate the benefits of the new system of regulation. The one-stop shop allows complementary consideration of changes to the rules for non-broadcast, radio and television advertisements, providing advertisers with a clearer indication of what is acceptable in their advertising."
The new rules can be found in Codes section of the CAP website - www.cap.org.uk/cap/codes.