Who we are
Our role
The ASA is the UK’s independent watchdog committed to maintaining high standards in advertising for the benefit of consumers, advertisers and society at large.
We do this by applying the mandatory Advertising Codes to ensure that advertisements, wherever they appear, remain legal, decent, honest and truthful.
Our work includes acting on and investigating complaints as well as proactively monitoring and taking action against misleading, harmful or offensive advertisements, sales promotions and direct marketing.
We view ads from the perspective of the audience, very often the general public, and demand that advertisers only make claims they can substantiate with evidence.
We are independent of both the Government and the advertising industry and operate according to published standards of service. The ASA’s authority is recognised by the Government, the courts, other regulators such as the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and Office of Communications (Ofcom) as the established means of consumer protection from misleading advertising.
Our Advertising Codes are amongst the strictest in the world and UK advertisers have a good track record of communicating responsibly. Because of both the industry's commitment to adhering to the Codes and the ASA’s work, the vast majority of ads that appear in the UK can be trusted - our regular surveys show that over 90% of advertisements are compliant with the rules.
Our remit
The ASA is responsible for controlling marketing communications in all media in the UK and we work closely with statutory regulatory partners, such as Trading Standards, the OFT and Ofcom.
We deal with following types of marketing communications:
- Print and press ads
- Posters
- Television commercials
- Radio ads
- Internet ads (banners, pop-ups, sponsored search but not company websites)
- E-mail and text messages
- Direct mail
- Competitions, special offers
- Sales promotions
- Cinema commercials
- Teleshopping
Read more about the types of marketing communications we can look into and where you can seek further help regarding those activities that fall outside of our remit.
Our history
We have been responsible for policing non-broadcast advertising standards since 1962, when the industry established the ASA as an independent complaints body to administer the CAP Code for non-broadcast advertising.
The success of the system led to the delegation by Ofcom to the ASA of the responsibility for regulating broadcast (TV and radio) advertising in 2004. This move was approved by Parliament and created a ‘one-stop shop’ for all advertising complaints.
Read a history of the advertising regulatory system.
Our team
The independent ASA Council is responsible for adjudicating on investigated complaints and deciding whether or not an advertisement is in breach of the Codes. The fifteen-strong Council is led by Chairman, Rt Hon Lord Smith of Finsbury.
The ASA senior management team is the executive decision-making body responsible for setting the direction for the organisation, overseeing the management of our core responsibilities and ensuring the delivery of our objectives in line with our standards of service. The ASA senior management team is led by Chief Executive, Guy Parker.
ASA Chairman
Rt Hon Lord Smith of Finsbury
Chris Smith was educated at George Watson's College, Edinburgh, and Pembroke College, Cambridge where he took a double first in English. He was a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard, and completed his Cambridge PhD in 1979. Chris was a Labour councillor for the London Borough of Islington for five years, and was chairman of housing from 1981 to 1983. In 1983 he became MP for Islington South and Finsbury. In 1992 he joined the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Environmental Protection, and two years later moved to Heritage, then Social Security and Health. He held the post of Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport between 1997 and 2001. Chris Smith entered the House of Lords in 2005. He was appointed ASA Chairman by the Advertising Standards Board of Finance in July 2007. Since 2008, he has also been the Chairman of the Environment Agency.
Senior management team
Guy Parker
Chief Executive
Guy has a degree in Politics and International Relations from the University of Kent, Canterbury, and a Diploma in Advertising from Watford College. After undertaking work experience at various advertising agencies, he joined the ASA in 1992. He has extensive experience of advertising self-regulation, both in the UK and in Europe. He previously held several senior management roles at the ASA, including those of Deputy Director General, Director of Complaints and Investigations and Secretary of CAP. Guy is also an Executive Committee member of the European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA). He was appointed ASA Chief Executive in June 2009.
Shahriar Coupal
Director of Advertising Policy and Practice and CAP Secretary
Shahriar studied Politics at the University of Kent at Canterbury and Economics at Birkbeck. He has worked in the public and private sector and spent two years travelling around the world. He joined the ASA from Ofcom in 2005, when the ASA took on responsibility for regulating broadcast advertising. He was previously Manager of the CAP and BCAP Code Policy team where he played a central role coordinating an unprecedented review of the UK Advertising Codes. Shahriar became Director of Advertising Policy Practice and CAP Secretary in July 2009.
Esra Erkal-Paler
Director of Communications and Marketing
Esra joined the ASA in June 2008 and leads the communications, policy and marketing functions. Her priorities are to ensure the UK advertising regulatory system is well placed to respond to key public and policy concerns; and to promote the mandatory Codes to keep advertising standards high. Having majored in international relations and politics at the University of Sussex, her career includes UK and international roles at leading consultancies and blue chip companies. Esra was previously Head of Corporate Affairs at Unilever and Director of Corporate Communications and External Affairs at L’Oreal.