Three big advertising issues dominated 2007 - food, alcohol and gambling. The advertising landscape changed as new rules came into effect and ads in these sensitive sectors complied with the restrictions. Daily monitoring by the ASA and few public complaints provided reassurance that the new rules were having an impact.
Other sectors came under ASA scrutiny as adjudications on debt consolidation ads and beauty ads led to significant changes in the way these products are advertised. Environmental claims and violent images in ads were also pursued by the ASA.
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01 Changing face of beauty ads
Celebrities are used to being under the spotlight, but in 2007 complaints about two mascara ads focused the ASA’s attention on two famous sets of eyelashes. Objections to a TV and press ad for L’Oréal featuring actor Penelope Cruz (see picture) questioned whether she was wearing false eyelashes that exaggerated the effects of the mascara. A TV and magazine ad for Rimmel, featuring Kate Moss, drew similar objections. Both complaints were upheld and all beauty advertisers are now required to include disclaimers in ads, stating if false lashes have been used.
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02 Alcohol appeal
In November, the ASA and Ofcom published the second part of an independent research study assessing the impact of the 2005 changes to the alcohol advertising rules on the appeal of alcohol advertisements to young people. The research specifically set out to test those ads that seemed to be targeted at the younger end of the legitimate market. Significantly, in 2007 it was more difficult to find such ads, suggesting that there were fewer being made. Encouragingly, the research found that fewer young people were likely to consider that alcohol advertisements were aimed at them, which demonstrated that the Code changes were having the desired effect. However, one of the main aims of the study was to assess whether ads were appealing to young people and why, as this would help the ASA to evaluate whether the advertising codes had been breached. The research did reveal that young people thought that some of the ads made the drink look appealing or would encourage people to drink. The research is available to view online at www.asa.org.uk/asa/research.
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03 Student Awards
The 2007 ASA Student Awards received a record number of entries. Entrants could either analyse the new food advertising rules or produce an ad campaign for a healthy snack aimed at children. Our winner, Firaaz Faiz from Stockport Grammar School, answered the brief perfectly with his ad campaign for the “Bliss” bar, demonstrating how a healthy snack product can be advertised responsibly. He also produced an exceptional piece of artwork (see picture) to illustrate his ad campaign. The competition runners up were Raza Hussain, also from Stockport Grammar and Sarah Frankland from City of Leicester College. There were no awards distributed to the over-18 category. Instead a donation was made to the National Advertising Benevolent Society (NABS).
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06 Food
The introduction of new rules for food advertising in 2007 ensured that foods classified as high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) could not be advertised in or around TV programmes with particular appeal to children under 16. Stricter non-broadcast rules for all food advertising were also launched in 2007, although by the end of the year, the ASA had not needed to adjudicate under the new rules. In the second half of the year, a monitoring survey of food and drink ads by the ASA Compliance team revealed a 99% rate of compliance with the advertising codes, with none of the ads surveyed breaching the new rules. For more information on the new food rules, please see the CAP Report.
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04 Debt Free Direct
Keeping order in a highly competitive market can sometimes result in the ASA being challenged in the High Court. In May 2007, the ASA succeeded in stopping misleading ads for debt management services offering Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs), where the real costs and benefits were not made clear to consumers. One of the leading advertisers in this market, Debt Free Direct Ltd, obtained an interim injunction to stop publication of an adverse ASA adjudication and applied to the High Court for judicial review. Dismissing the application, Mr Justice Sullivan ruled that it would require the most compelling reasons to prevent a body such as the ASA from publishing its adjudications, which were in the public interest. He said Debt Free Direct had not exhausted its available remedies before seeking judicial review. The company had not applied to the Independent Reviewer of ASA adjudications. The ASA was awarded costs on an indemnity basis. The episode showed that the ASA will not be scared off by talk of legal action and that the Courts will support the self-regulatory system in the public interest.
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05 New Council members
Three new ASA Council members started work in May 2007. Sally Cartwright, Director at Large of Hello Magazine, and James Best, a Director at ad agency DDB Worldwide, joined as industry members on the non-broadcast and joint councils respectively, replacing Mike Ironside and Dan O’Donoghue who retired after serving the maximum two three-year terms. The third new Council member, David Harker, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice replaced independent member Chitra Bharucha on the broadcast council.
