National Press Survey 2004
21 June 2005
A National Press survey published by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) reveals an encouragingly high 99.3% compliance rate with the advertising industry’s code of practice – the CAP Code. The survey was undertaken over a six month period between March and August 2004.
Selecting, at random, one week in each month over a six month period, the ASA Compliance team examined 33,117 display advertisements and reader offers. Any duplicates were removed so that 15,512 different advertisements came under scrutiny. The survey identified only obvious breaches of the Code and found that, excluding duplicates, 102 advertisements were in breach representing 0.66% of the total. When an ad was in breach, the Compliance team contacted the advertiser or publisher and asked for assurance that the advertisement would be withdrawn or amended.
The newspapers examined in the survey included all the national broadsheets and tabloids. There was no significant difference in compliance rates between the two. The sector with the highest percentage of breaches was health and beauty where of the 599 such advertisements examined 3.5% (21) were in breach. Yet of the 1,161 advertisements placed by the computers and telecoms industry only two were in breach of the Code.
Significantly, 75% of the 102 breaches were on technical grounds where a breach occured because of a design flaw in the advertisement or an omission in content. Only 25% of breaches occurred because of substantive reasons, where the advertiser did not provide evidence backing up the claims. The code clause most commonly breached involved distance selling, which often applies to reader offers.
The number of advertisements found in breach of the Code fell on a month-on-month basis during the survey. That suggests the breaches brought to the attention of newspapers during the first month were not repeated, underlining the effectiveness of the Compliance team’s work.
Director of Advertising Policy and Practice and CAP Secretary, Roger Wisbey, believes the results of the National Press Survey 2004 point to an industry that is compliant but that also benefits from the work of the Compliance team. “The prevailing message of the survey is a positive one, demonstrating the effectiveness of the self-regulatory system of advertising regulation in the UK. A compliance rate of 99.3% in the national press is encouragingly high. That does not, however, mean we shall be any less diligent; the Compliance team will continue to check advertising rigorously in the national press to ensure advertisers comply with the CAP Code.”
Click here to download the ASA National Press Survey 2004