Political Advertising

With the approaching Scottish Parliament, local government and Parliamentary Voting System Referendum on 5 May, political parties and campaigning organisations across the UK are already making their case to the electorate. Many groups are likely to employ non-broadcast political advertising (e.g. leaflets, posters & billboards) as part of their campaigns.

As the amount of political advertising increases in the run-up to polling day, the ASA is taking the opportunity to remind the public and campaigners that it is unable to look into complaints and investigate advertisements of this nature. Even though the ASA regulates nearly all forms of advertising across media, when it comes to political ads there are limits on what we can regulate (for further details, see below).

If you have concerns about political advertising, we recommend that you register any concerns you have directly with the advertiser.

Whilst the ASA cannot look into complaints about political ads, we do expect political advertisers to be guided by the principles in the CAP Code which requires that all ads be created with a sense of responsibility to consumers and society. The ASA has recently written to all the main political parties and campaign groups asking that they respect these principles, to help keep advertising standards in the UK high. 

Why can’t the ASA help?

Non-broadcast advertising

Any ad whose purpose is to persuade voters in a local, national or international election or referendum is not covered by the Advertising Code.

Such ads are exempt from the Code because under the 1998 Human Rights Act’s provisions on freedom of speech, an ASA ruling could be considered to be interfering unduly with the democratic process.

This means that non-broadcast political ads, such as those appearing on posters, newspapers, cinemas and leaflets, do not have to comply with the same strict rules that all other ads have to adhere to.

TV and radio

Political advertising has always been banned from television and radio. ‘Political’ has a wider meaning than ‘party political’ and covers such things as issue campaigning or seeking to influence opinion on matters of public controversy.

The ban is written into the Communications Act 2003 and is reflected in Section 4 of the BCAP TV Code and Section 2.15 of the BCAP Radio Code.

Although the ASA has taken on the task of regulating almost all aspects of TV and radio advertising under contract from Ofcom, questions of whether broadcast advertisements are ‘political’ have stayed with Ofcom. This is because, unlike the ASA, Ofcom is a body appointed by Parliament.

Party Political and Party Election Broadcasts

While political advertising is banned, the Communications Act does require Channels 3, 4 and 5, and national analogue radio stations, to give airtime to political parties in the form of Party Political and Party Election Broadcasts. Under Ofcom rules, airtime is allocated to the major parties in each of the UK nations, and to other parties according to factors including how many seats they are contesting. The BBC carries PPBs and PEBs on a similar basis. Broadcasts are also awarded to ‘yes’ and ‘no’ organisations at the time of referendums.