ISBA - The Voice of British Advertisers

The UK’s strict rules on alcohol advertising are the product of collaborative working between ISBA members, regulators and interest groups.

Alcoholic beverages are among the UK’s most popular and successful brands; advertising these brands is important to the UK’s economy but it is also important that the rules are both responsible and effective.  The ISBA Alcohol Advertising Group is our forum for ensuring that advertising codes and marketing practices are workable while reflecting the needs of society and the social responsibility policies of our members.

How we work

The UK’s advertising self-regulation system is based on codes owned by the industry (through CAP & BCAP) that both implement the law and establish industry agreed standards above the law.  ISBA is the advertiser’s representative on both code owning bodies for broadcast and non broadcast.  When revisions are called for it is ISBA’s Alcohol Advertising Group that leads the process.

We work alongside The Portman Group, the industry self-regulatory group covering wider marketing issues, and the Drinkaware Trust, the industry funded but independent social messaging body. Drinkaware promotes drinking within the Government’s recommended guidelines and finds innovative ways to challenge the national drinking culture through its campaign, digital, media and grants activities. We also work closely with the industry trade bodies, including the British Beer and Pub Association, the Wine and Spirit Trade Association and the Scotch Whisky Association.

In the EU we work alongside the sectoral alcohol groups and the World Federation of Advertisers in guiding public policy towards effective ways of achieving common social policy objectives within the complex cultural mix of 27 different countries and varying cultural approaches to the use and abuse of alcohol. In February 2012 the spritis industry in the EU launced a new website that translates industry standards of advertising – including online – into practical instructions for creative and advertising agencies

www.marketresponsibly.eu  

Actions

ISBA members led the process of working with the present coalition government and its predecessor in tackling the vexed issues of alcohol misuse.  Advertising has a significant role to play alongside other inputs. ISBA is a signatory to the Department of Health’s responsibility deal.

Some interest groups have called for total advertising bans. ISBA and the Advertising Association have been at the forefront in demonstrating that bans would be very unlikely to achieve the campaigners' goals of reducing consumption and misuse. These bans would also have the unintended consequence of undermining free-to-air TV in the UK that is paid for almost entirely through advertising revenue.  Similarly many events, popular with UK citizens, would be badly affected by moves to prohibit sponsorship by alcohol brands.

Advertising represents serious investment by car companies and serious investment by consumers in a major purchase.  Getting that advertising right is crucial.

ISBA’s automotive advertisers group brings together the wide experience of the sector as the focal point for informing ISBA’s policy on the advertising codes and wider commercial communications and media issues.

How we work

ISBA is the focus for commercial communications issues in the automotive industry.  We work closely with the SMMT Advertising Group and with the World Federation of Advertisers on EU wide issues.

Actions

ISBA has been closely involved with developing advice on car advertising. We are the joint authors with LowCvp and SMMT of the Best Practice Principles Environmental claims in marketing cars.  Environmental claims remain an important issue with the advertising regulator, the ASA, and the EU Commission monitoring the type and level of claims. An ongoing concern was the ability to market electric vehicles with ‘zero emission’ claims where the ASA and industry representatives have disagreed about the meaning of the claim and how the emissions associated with electricity generation should be account for in a way that consumers can best understand. In January 2012 the ASA Council issued a new adjudication on the Vauxhall Ampera, a hybrid vehicle that acknowledged a change in the way these claims may now be seen. On 22 FEb a new adjudication of a 'whilst driving' qualified 'zero claim' on Nissan's Leaf was also not upheld.  More details for ISBA members can be found here.

Fuel consumption and CO2 labelling in advertising is required by law and administered by the VCA.  ISBA has a long track record of ensuring that the regulations are implemented in a way that meets the needs of consumers and the practicality of the media used.

Advertising to children and the influence of advertising on children are high on the political agenda in the UK and globally; they are equally high on advertisers' agendas.

ISBA and our sister bodies in the advertising industry take these challenges and responsibilities very seriously.  Advertising codes, here and globally, reflect the need to provide higher levels of protection for children. Our codes provide this protection, defining children as under 16.

Protecting children in a commercial world

Responsible advertising is at the heart of ISBA’s activities. Whilst we reject campaign group calls for a commercial free childhood we do strongly believe that advertisers have a special duty of responsibility when advertising to children. The UK Advertising Codes are a major contribution to protecting children and helping parents. For example pester power, know banned by the EU, has been prohibited in the UK for many years.

As the significance of digital media grows, not least for children’s access to content, it becomes ever more important for advertisers, parents and government to work together to equip children and families with the knowledge of how to avoid undesirable content.

With the AA we have made inputs to the Buckingham Review and more recently to the Bailey Review of the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood. One of the industry outcomes from this Review is the setting up of a high level Children’s Panel at the Advertising Association to review practices and advise the industry about our codes. Advertisers , supported by industry bodies have signed the Children's Pledge not to use Brand Ambassadors or Peer-to-Peer marketing with children. The ASA have also set up the ParentPort website in response to the Review

ISBA is a member of the Responsible Advertising and Children Programme, a cross industry group brought together in Brussels and the USA by the World Federation of Advertisers. For advice about the EU Food Pledge visit the food advertising pages.

Advice and education

ISBA and the Department for Education co-authored Working with Schools - best practice principles which aims to guide schools and business on the need for great care when allowing messages into schools. The key message is that the educational benefits must outweigh the business ones.

A similar set of guidance is provided with ISBA support by Consumer Focus Scotland, together with more joint guidance on Commercial Sponsorship in the Public Sector.

More help for advertisers working in schools is provided by the Media Smart project. Detailed lesson plans and audio visual material is available for teachers to help primary school children understand advertising and the purpose of these commercial messages. The recently published digital lessons are also available for schools.

Industry best practice and links to the rules on advertising to children can also be found at the CHECK website, hosted by the Advertising Association.

Respect for personal data and the means to ensure that it is not misused is very important to advertisers.  It is also high on the political agenda in the UK, EU and in most countries.

The maturing of digital media, into mainstream communications, means that access to data is swifter and of growing political and public concern.  Some advertisers seek to target their communications to consumers with a known preference to receive them.  If the targeting is in the form of Interest Based Advertising (or Online Behavioural Advertising), knowing what you have looked at previously, using information from cookies placed on a consumers equipment then the E-Commerce Directive applies.  The UK implemented the directive from 25 May 2011. Full implementation for advertisers is necessary by May 2012. 

ISBA and the UK ICC are helping to define exactly what informed or explicit consent to the placing of cookies means.  In the mean time the ICO has offered some general guidance and acknowledged that a stream of pop ups is not desirable, but that prior opt in is the safe option.  The extent of the actions needed may yet depend on the intrusiveness of the data collection.  DCMS  is in consultation with browser providers about how users can more easily access and understand the options.

Three significant amendments to the EU e-Privacy Directive came into force in December 2009, one of which requires consent to be sought if accessing or placing information, via cookies on a user’s machine.

The Self-Regulatory Framework for Online Behavioural Advertising gives users the option to easily opt out of receiving cookies used for behavioural targeting, although the Directive covers all types of cookies, from those deemed ‘strictly necessary’ to operate the site to those used to improve the performance and functionality of the site.

The Framework was drafted prior to amendments to the EU ePrivacy Directive being made, being incorporated into the European Advertising Standards Alliance’s Best Practice Recommendation (BPR) on OBA in April 2011, when it was adopted in the UK by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). 

Strict implementation of the Directive will treat information stored in cookies as personal data, leading to an ‘opt-in’ approach across all digital platforms, threatening to close down many commercial uses of the online economy. Advertisers would be denied the opportunity to track customers’ online behaviour.

The Directive offers users notice and control over their privacy and personal data, aiming to ensure that business can’t abuse the trust of users by mis-using their data.

Last year the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) adopted the framework, which is a consumer-led approach for increased transparency and control on-line. 

In May 2011 the Information Commissioner’s Office gave UK businesses a 12 month ‘period of grace’ to comply with the Directive, dubbed the ‘Cookies Law.’ Organisers now need to comply with the Cookies Law by 26 May 2012. 

ISBA has been working closely with the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) in the UK and the World Federation of Advertising (WFA) in Europe over the last couple of years to prepare a self-regulatory framework for Online Behavioural Advertising (OBA). The framework allows users, via an icon (see www.youronlinechoices.com) to easily opt out of behavioural targeting. 

The obligation is on the third party, i.e. the ad networks, who have been signing up to the standard.  

However, the Directive covers all types of cookies, not just those used for OBA, and the ICO has been keen to encourage organisations to adopt an ‘ecology of solutions.’  

Other initiatives are being developed, including enhancing browser settings to meet the wider requirements of the Directive, thereby allowing users to make a choice about a variety of cookies.

The Commission has proposed a EU wide Regulation with no national reinterpretation.  It has tighter definitions and practices. Through the WFA ISBA is making representations. More details for members can be found here.

On 25 January the European Commission published its proposals for a comprehensive reform of the EU's 1995 data protection rules, with their intention being to ‘strengthen online privacy rights and boost Europe's digital economy’, aiming to create a consistent data protection regime.

The main proposals are as follows:

• Personal data: The definition is extended to “any information relating to a data subject”, explicitly applying to digital forms of data, including an anonymous identifier such as a cookie, a full name or an IP address.
• A reinforced ‘right to be forgotten’: able to delete data if there are no legitimate reasons for retaining it. 
• Increased burdens for those processing personal data: companies must notify serious data breaches to individuals as soon as possible (as a rule, within 24 hours). 
• Businesses will be required to have a data protection officer if they are “large” or where the “core activities of the controller consist of processing operations which require regular monitoring.” 
• People will be able to refer cases where rules on data protection have been violated to the data protection authority in their country, even when their data is processed outside the EU.    
• Independent national data protection authorities will be strengthened to better enforce the EU rules, being empowered to fine companies that violate EU data protection rules (2% of global annual turnover).
• A child is defined as anyone under 18. “Verifiable” parental consent is required collecting data from children under 13.
• Automated profiling will be prohibited unless acquired with user consent.

Financial Service advertising regulation is detailed and proscriptive.  Much comes in the form of implementing EU Directives.  The result is not always helpful to consumers or business.

As responsible advertisers ISBA members seek to provide clear and accurate information to consumers.  The CAP and BCAP codes apply to financial service advertising; however the details of product specific rules are provided by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and implemented separately by them.

Regulations

There are advantages and disadvantages to the government administering the detailed rules that come from Brussels. However on balance ISBA believes that all the advertising regulation should live at the self-regulatory system at ASA/CAP, with experienced staff able to provide consistent advice and adjudications. 

The merging of the authority with the Bank of England provides an opportunity for the government to consider if they should be in the business of doing a job that is already performed effectively by the ASA.

Disclaimers in advertising

The first aim of advertising regulation must be to protect consumers.  There is a tendency for legislators to believe that consumer protection is achieved by compulsory ‘small print’ in ads.  ISBA recognises that there is an important role for laying down essential information.  However we also know that small print, disclaimers and legalese is mistrusted by the very consumers it seeks to protect.  Sometimes the disclaimers are also the subject to public ridicule. Financial service advertising is particularly surrounded by the need to add qualifying statements; we believe the nature of the warnings, the inflexibility of the word requirements, and sometimes the need for them should be comprehensively reviewed.

Advertising and London 2012

The Olympics are a great opportunity for advertisers to support a world wide event here in London.  To protect the spirit of the Games and to ensure the funding sponsors rights are respected the Games are surrounded by strict rules.

Where can the rules be found?

The advertising and trading regulations for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games for England have been approved by Parliament and can be found on the government's legislation site

Are these rules just for London?

No the regulations are for England. Equivalent regulations are currently being considered by the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales and are likely to be made law in January 2012. The rules will apply where ever events take place.

How will the rules be applied?

The regulations are explained in detail on the Olympic Delivery Authorities website

Deadline for seeking permission to advertise

You may need to apply to advertise or trade in the restricted zones.  Applications are now open – and close at the end of February. THE DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED.  SEE THE ANNOUNCEMENT HERE.

Getting help from the delivery team

I f you have any queries please use the following email address and the ODA team will endeavour to help: advertisingandtradingenquiries@london2012.com

The advertisers view

ISBA has been actively engaged from the winning of the 2012 games for London.  Our concerns in discussion with DCMS, the Mayor and in briefing MPs and Peers has been to ensure that sponsors rights are not breeched whilst non sponsors are not unnecessarily excluded from the the national celebrations.

See are response in March 2011 here

ISBA is actively engaged with the UK and devolved governments and parliaments, the EU and international bodies to help achieve a regulatory structure that works for society as a whole.

Maintaining and supporting the effectiveness of the self-regulatory adverting system in the UK is a key ISBA objective. ISBA is the advertiser’s representative on the CAP and BCAP committees and on the funding body – ASBOF.

However our UK rules are not simply about self-regulation.  They work at two levels; first on matters of taste and decency they are self-regulatory; on matter of misleadingness they reflect the UK and EU law. The ASA/CAP system is recognised as the ‘established means’ by the government in implementing and enforcing the law.  The Consumer Protection law is also enforceable by local government Trading Standards and in the case of last resort by the government (OFT), they would however expect the advertising system to have worked first.  When faced with a regulatory concern the first place to check with is the Codes of Practice.  These implement UK and EU law, if in doubt check out the legal position.

Self-regulation

There are some serious benefits of self-regulation over and above State law making. For the consumer it is an independent, speedy and free means to get something put right.  Where there are no systems of self-regulation there is no alternative to using the courts.  This can be both expensive and can take a great deal of time.

It is also possible to keep the rules up to date without the need to go though the detailed and time consuming process of drafting and passing new laws in Westminster or Brussels.

For more details about how it works for us in the UK and globally have a look at the Self-regulation tab.

ISBA Public Affairs and Regulatory Group

PARG brings together member public affairs and legal teams to discuss current issues of concern affecting advertising.  These can be cross industry legal proposals or sectoral matters.

Maintaining and supporting the effectiveness of the self-regulatory adverting system in the UK is a key ISBA objective. ISBA is the advertiser’s representative on the CAP and BCAP committees and on the funding body – ASBOF.

Advertising self-regulation provides an effective consumer focused complaints system.  It is actively supported and paid for by advertisers. Survey results show that the independent adjudicator, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), has a good level of public awareness and receives complaints about issues and events for which it has no responsibility but for which it is able to help redirect to statutory regulators.

ASA

ISBA’s special role

History

How it works

Benefits

EU action

Global advertising rules

Sustainability goes further than ‘green claims’ or environmental claims in advertising. It encompasses responsible claims throughout the marketing processes and procurement.

When making green claims it is important to follow the fundamental rule; be able to substantiate the claim when making it.  There has been much criticism of ‘green wash’ in marketing; the advertising rules tackle this problem with specific advice.

Green claims rules

ISBA was at the leading edge of the development of specific rules on green claims and environmental issues in marketing.  ISBA work led to the inclusion of Environmental Claims section of the CAP Code.  These rules were recently updated for both the broadcast and non broadcast codes in 2010 and the scope of the CAP code widen to include website content.

Sitting alongside the Codes of Advertising Practice are the government’s guidance.  These were recently updates by DEFRA with the involvement of ISBA and the advertising industry and campaign groups.  The Guidance should be consulted alongside the CAP and BCAP codes and are taken into account by the ASA Council in making adjudications on complaints.

The ICC global Advertising and Marketing Codes also includes advice on environmental claims.

Environmental terms

When making claims, especially comparative claims, it is important that we all understand the meaning of the terms used.  The problem is that for many terms there are conflicting definitions, some of which are fundamental campaigning issues.  

Procurement

ISBA Sustainable advertising group supports work on making commercial communications more sustainable through developing advice on procurement. For example the PAS 2020 standard for direct mail was supported, promoted and shared by the group. Similarly interest is shared in making sustainability a factor in the decision making in purchasing commercial communications.