ASA reveals new logo as we celebrate reaching 50

5 January 2012

We are pleased to unveil our new logo following a rebrand to coincide with the start of a year in which we celebrate 50 years of keeping UK advertising legal, decent, honest and truthful.

The ASA was established on 24 September 1962 to regulate non-broadcast advertising. Since then we have dealt with thousands of complaints, taken on responsibility for regulating TV and radio ads and recently saw our remit extended to cover all ads online, including on companies’ own websites.

Our celebrations are not just a time for us to look back over the last 50 years and our work maintaining advertising standards for consumers and business, but will also be a time for us to look ahead and make sure that we continue to be effective for the next 50 years.

We will be marking this milestone through a variety of activities over the next 12 months.

The evolution of the 'tick' brand identity

1962

The Advertising Standards Authority was created.

1976

The 'tick' theme was born as part of ASA's first ever ad campaign, aimed at members of the advertising business itself. This ad campaign appeared in the national popular press, in posters and in the cinema and showed examples of misleading advertising in  Victorian times to highlight the advance in advertising standards.

1979

The 'tick' started to be used consistently on printed literature as part of the ASA identity.

1985-86

The 'tick' was put in a box on the cover of the ASA Annual Report.

1988-2004

The brand evolved so that the 'tick' was boxed continuously.

2004

When the ASA took on responsibility for regulating TV and radio advertising, a new tick was commissioned to mark the change.  The new abstract tick was commissioned to work better in digital media.

2012

A new brand is launched to commemorate ASA's 50th anniversary. The abstract 'tick' is replaced by a fluid, transparent tick more reminiscent of the original mark.

A special 50th anniversary badge with the strap line 'legal, decent, honest and truthful' is also created.  The legal, decent, honest and truthful statement is taken from the Advertising Codes themselves.  It appeared in the very first non-broadcast Advertising Code in 1962 in a slight different form “legal, clean, honest and truthful”. ‘Clean’ was replaced with decent in later editions and the phrase started being used in our advertising campaigns in the 1970s.