Task 4- Regulation

Explain why the regulation of television advert is important

Adverts are an essential part of the urban world and our everyday life, it is important that people are not mislead by what they see on TV through adverts. It is important to regulate advertisement because majority of the public count on them as guides to new things. Most adverts are the selling points for a lot of companies because that is the first thing out before the

What is the purpose of ASA/Ofcom?

Ofcom means Office of Communication but it is commonly known as Ofcom. It is the Government approved Regulatory and Competition Authority for the Broadcasting, Telecommunication and postal Industries of the United Kingdom.

It has a statutory duty to represent the interests of citizens and consumers by promoting competition and protecting the public from anything that may seem offensive or harmful material. Some of the main areas Ofcom presides over licensing, research, codes and policies, complaints, competition and protecting the radio spectrum from abuse. When dealing with advertisements, Ofcom will often direct you to the ASA which specifically regulates advertisements.

ASA means Advertising Standards Authority. their job is ensure that advertising i all forms of media, from newspapers, magazines and billboards through to television, radio and the internet is legal, decent, honest and truthful. If an advert fails the test, the advert would either be amended or withdrawn.

Explain which areas of advertising are particular concern to the ASA

Magazines and Newspaper

Radio and TV

Television shopping channels

Posters

Cinema

Direct mail

All these are used by the public and are seen by different age groups, the ASA needs to be certain about what type of adverts are put out for the world to see.

Explain the two questions The ASA ask of a particular advert

The two questions the ASA ask of a particular advert are,

The Accuracy of the advert

If the advert is Offensive or not.

ASA stands for Advertising Standards Agency.

The ASA is an organisation which enforces advertising rules. It takes action against advertising companies which break the rules. They deal with complaints from the public and investigate each one. They actively check the media and take action against misleading, harmful, or offensive advertisements. If the advert is found to be in breach of the UK Advertising codes it has be taken off or changed to make it acceptable.

Ofcom is an independent regulator which issues a broadcasting code for, and regulator T.V, radio, fixed line telecoms, mobiles, postal services etc. It sets out rules which is T.V. and radio broadcasters must follow. The code includes protecting under 18s - observing the watershed on TV and music videos. There are rules about offensive of language in lyrics in music tracks, live music performances/ interviews or studio conversations. Listener do not expect to hear strong language during the day on radio. Where during live interview someone swears, a broadcaster has to give and immediate apology. Ofcom make sure that everyone in the UK gets the best from the communications services and make sure they are protected from scams.

Regulation of Advertisement

Advertising is a key part of television and is a regular occurrence on TV. There are adverts around every 15 minutes. It is a crucial part of the economy. Adverts are used to sell products. The adverts gain money. This means that audiences do not have to pay as much TV licence. TV license is used as a way of the bcc who do not have adverts, to make money. Regulation is important because adverts need to be controlled. If there was no regulation, adverts could be misleading and might not give accurate information. This regulation controls whatever goes into an advert. If they do not like what is in the advert they do not allow it to be shown. There are rules set up to stop adverts being offensive or misleading. Regulation is especially strict on adverts involving or aimed at kids.

Roles and purposes of Ofcom

Ofcom (the office of communication) is a board who are government approved. They are the regulatory board who controls advertisement. They deal with television radio and the postal sector. They are there to represent the view of the general public and make sure their view of advertisements are correctly represented. They are there to protect the public from offensive or morally wrong adverts. They deal with licencing, research codes and policies. They especially deal with complaints from the public. The board listen to the public and deal with them if needed. If their was enough complaints they would take down the adverts.

Roles and purposes of ASA

ASA (Advertising standards authority) is there to make sure that all advertisements going out can all be trusted not to cause offense to the public. They were set up 50 years ago. It observes all media including TV radio and internet. They have to make sure all adverts don't break the law. They also make sure it is not misleading and is decent to show to people including children, the elderly or women. If the adverts fails any of the criteria they will be look at, changed or withdrawn.

They control a range of areas including

Magazine and newspapers

Radio and television

Posters

Cinema

Leaflets

Internet

DVDs and CDs

Their main role is to listen to complaints by the public. They have to act and make sure changes are made to respond to each complaint. They have to watch each advert making sure it it is not offensive or misleading to the general public.  Each complaint can make an advert be looked into and maybe even banned. In 2011 31,458 about adverts. 4591 adverts had to be changed or withdrawn due to complaints.  94% of complaints.

Areas concerning ASA

The ASA always have to be careful what adverts go out and have to watch what times adverts go out. They take certain products into considerations.  These include Alcohol, gambling, food and fizzy drinks, health and beauty products and tobacco. They have to make sure they are not selling products to the wrong demographic, e.g. tobacco for kids by not putting it on when kids are watching and not aiming it for kids by putting kid imagery. They set up rules to protect people. These rules protect people from harm and offense, environmental clams, racism, children and advertising, stop misleading clams and make sure adverts are in the right times and places.

When the ASA deal with advert as they have to ask two key questions. They are "is the advert inaccurate or misleading" and "might it cause offense to people seeing it, or could it cause harm to anyone, especially children. These two questions are asked of every advert ma

How are the rules written

The ADS are judged by the ASA. They are judged using the UK advertising codes. These codes are decide by two groups the CAP (the committee of advertising practice) and the BCAP ( broadcast committee of advertising practice).The committee is made up of media owners, advertisers and agencies.  The codes involves a wide ranges of different types of advertising. The rules make sure adverts don't mislead, offend and are socially responsible for what is being put out there. The codes also mirror and enhance the laws already in place. The ASA uses the law to judge all adverts making sure they are right.

Example of advertising being banned.

Cigarettes was one of the product the ASA banned to protect people. In 1965 cigarette adverts on tv were banned but cigars and lose tobacco aloud till the 1990s. In 1975 new laws were introduced to prevent other forms of cigarette advertising. In 2003 an act was passed prohibiting the advertising promotion of tobacco products. But cover ads in rolling papers were still aloud. This started was because of a string of complaints about cigarettes.

Controversial adverts

Levis blind man advert

The advert is made by Levis Jeans. The advert is of a women who goes into a public bathroom to get changed. She sees a man with a white stick and assumes he is a blind man. She starts to strip , when she puts on trousers but goes up to the man face before he dose up her trousers she walk up to him and dose it in his face. Someone moves in the cubical, so she runs out. It turns out the man in the cubical is the blind man and the one who was sitting there was not blind. It brings up two controversy, which are the sexualisation of women and mocking of disabled people. The ASA started getting complaints about the advert saying it was making women look like they were sluts and mocking blind people. They responding by explaining that it was offending people and eventually decided to ban it. I believe that it should not have been banned because it was done as light humour and it was not offensive.

Ikea tidy up vibrator advert

The advert was made by Ikea. The advert is about a kid who is playing with his toys, then finds a vibrator. He starts to play with it like it’s one of his toys. He then makes it vibrate and starts laughing. This is controversial advert because it has children playing with adult things. This is putting a kid with an adult thing. This is making the advert inappropriate. The ASA started receiving complaints saying this is making it too sexual and inappropriate especially because it is involving children. The ASA responded by review the advert and decided that it was too adult and inappropriate and banned. I believe this was the right choice because it was very inappropriate and is putting a kid in an adult situation.

 Victoria's secret Christmas advert

The advert is made by Victoria's secret. The advert is of a group a famous super models including Tyra Banks. All the models were wearing lingerie. They were all posing say lustful thing like "tell me you miss me". This is controversial because it is objectifying women and made men desire thin and model standard women. Lowering women self-esteem of every other women making them feel worthless. The ASA started receiving complaints from women who did not have self-esteem. So they looked into it and said it was objectifying them so they banned it. I believe that they should have changed to include some non-models as well making it more women friendly.