Restrictions/Regulations: History

This research will help us understand the rules of advertising so that we don’t breach them and also looking at the history of regulations will benefit and general knowledge on advertising as a whole.

Restrictions

Beginning on January 2, 1971, advertisements featuring cigarettes were banned from American TV. Advertisements for alcohol products are allowed, but the consumption of any alcohol product is not allowed in a television advertisement. Since the late 1990s TV advertisements have become far more diverse, and household products and foods that are not new are no longer generally advertised as they were in the mid to late 20th century. Subliminal messaging has also been banned.

*Taken from the AQA- Advertising Standards Authority

‘The ASA is the UK's independent regulator of advertising across all media, including marketing on websites. We work to ensure ads are legal, decent, honest and truthful by applying the Advertising Codes.’

History of Ad Regulation

1961 onwards - Protecting consumers, testing claims

When commercial TV started broadcasting in 1955, the advertisements were controlled by legislation. This was the first time that advertisements – and the claims they made - were subject to any form of formal regulation. When commercial radio was launched in 1973, they too were subject to statutory control.
In 1961, the Advertising Association, following discussions with other industry associations, agreed that it was important that advertisements were welcomed and trusted by consumers in non-broadcast media too.
As a result, the industry (agencies, media and advertisers) came together to form the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP)  and produced the first edition of the British Code of Advertising Practice. The industry’s actions meant that an official report on Consumer Protection by the Molony Committee, published that same year, rejected the case for an American-style Federal Trade Commission to regulate advertising by statute:
In 1962, CAP established the ASA as the independent adjudicator under the newly created Code. The Authority was set up to supervise the working of the new self-regulatory system in the public interest.

1974 onwards - Introduction of the levy

In 1973, the Minister for Consumer Protection, Shirley Williams, criticised the system for not being well-known enough.
In response, the industry set up the Advertising Standards Board of Finance (Asbof) in 1974 to provide sufficient and secure funding for the system through a levy of 0.1% on advertising space costs.
Because the ASA is not responsible for collecting the levy itself, its independence is assured. The levy also provides enough funding for the ASA to promote itself to the public.

1988 onwards - Legal backstop

In 1988, the introduction of the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations provided the ASA with legal backing from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). These regulations enabled the ASA, for the first time, to refer advertisers who made persistent misleading claims and refused to co-operate with the self-regulatory system to the OFT for legal action.
The ASA still has the ability to refer advertisers to the OFT for unfair or misleading advertising, but today we would refer under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008, which replaced the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations 1988.
Referral to the OFT remains a last resort and is rarely needed: the overwhelming majority of advertisers work within the system.

2004 onwards - Becoming the one-stop shop

In 2004, after more than forty years of successful self-regulation of non-broadcast ads, the ASA/CAP system assumed responsibility for TV and radio ads.
The newly-formed communications regulator, Ofcom, took the decision, in a move supported by Parliament, to contract-out responsibility for broadcast (TV and radio) advertising to the ASA system in a co-regulatory partnership. The co-regulatory agreement created for the first time in the UK a single regulator for advertising – a one-stop shop for advertising complaints.
Although there are various constituent parts, the system runs as a single advertising regulator. This is particularly important for members of the public who want a complaints system that’s easy to navigate.
From under 100 complaints in its first year of operation, the ASA now receives around 26,000 complaints a year. This is mainly due to the fact that the one-stop shop ASA is well known; has a much broader remit and it is easier to complain.

Regulation today - Advertising under control

More than 45 years on and advertising in the UK overwhelmingly complies with the Codes. Our compliance surveys regularly reveal that more than 97% of ads are in line with the Advertising Codes.
The vast majority of TV and radio ads are pre-cleared before they go on air. There is also lots of free help and guidance available to non-broadcast advertisers publishing the many millions of non-broadcast ads in the UK each year in the form of the Copy Advice team who offer free, independent and expert advice on how to avoid failing foul of the rules.
And because the industry is committed to making self-regulation effective, advertisements that break the Codes can be withdrawn swiftly without needing to resort to legal action. A range of sanctions can be brought to bear. For example, advertisers who continue to flout the rules can be denied access to advertising media space.
Today’s self-regulatory system has come a long way since 1962, winning the confidence of consumers, industry and government along the way.

2010 onwards - What next for advertising self-regulation?

Over the years, the advertising self-regulatory system has responded to changes in society and media. The system is continuing to develop based on the enduring principles that ads should not mislead, harm or offend.
A major challenge for the system is to maintain standards in fast-developing new media as effectively as in established media.

Video-on-demand

In December 2009, following the UK government’s decision that new rules relating to video-on-demand (VOD) services should be delivered under a co-regulatory framework, the ASA entered into a co-regulatory partnership with Ofcom to regulate advertisements accompanying VOD services. With the rise of VOD consumers are able to watch programmes at a time of their own choosing, and it was necessary that these new services be subject to the same standards as ‘linear’ programming on TV. 
In May 2010 the ASA upheld its first complaint about an ad accompanying VOD content, judging that the ad in question had not been appropriately targeted around a suitable programme.
As with broadcast advertising, broadcasters who continually air ads that break the Codes can be referred to Ofcom, which has the power to fine them or even revoke their license.

Digital Media

In 1995 the self-regulation of the internet began as the ASA’s remit was extended to cover advertisements in ‘non-broadcast electronic media’, predominantly in ‘paid-for space’ such as banner and display ads and paid-for (sponsored) search.
Such has been the growth in online content and usage that in 2007 the Internet became the second most complained about medium behind television - drawing approximately three thousand complaints per year - and has remained so ever since. However, nearly two-thirds of these complaints fell outside of the ASA’s remit as they related to claims made on companies’ own websites.
To address this regulatory gap and to broaden the existing protections for consumers and children online, Industry recommended that the ASA extend its remit in digital media to cover marketing communications on companies’ own websites.
In September 2010 the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP), the body responsible for writing the CAP Code, responded to this formal request by announcing the extension of the ASA’s online remit to cover advertisers own marketing communications on their own websites and in other non-paid-for space under their control, such as social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Journalistic and editorial content and material related to causes and ideas - except those that are direct solicitations of donations for fund-raising - are excluded from the remit.
The extended remit came into force on 1 March 2011, following a six month period of grace to allow the ASA and CAP to conduct training work to raise awareness and educate business on the requirements of the CAP Code.