ADVERTISING STANDARDS AUTHORITY (ASA)
The ASA deals with advertising standards and complaints from the public.
Guidance on presentation of adverts
Regardless of whether you call them advertisement features, advertorials, advertisement promotions or publisher’s promotions, the appeal of advertisement features is that they allow marketers to draw on credibility lent by a publisher. But care needs to be taken to ensure that readers are not confused about whether copy is marketing material or editorial. This Advertising Guidance explains what constitutes an advertisement feature under the CAP Code and who bears responsibility for them. While marketers are primarily responsible for the content, both marketers and publishers have a duty to make clear that advertisement features are ads, and this guidance outlines how this might best be achieved.
Interaction with the law
Across the European Union (EU) a piece of consumer protection law, the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, is designed to prevent misleading or unfair trading practices. It has been converted into UK law to make sure that we have the same rules as all the other countries in the EU.
The ASA works within this legal framework to make sure that UK advertising is not misleading or unfair. The ASA is able to refer advertisers who persistently break the Advertising Codes and don’t work with us to other bodies for the further action, such as Trading Standards.
The ASA is considered the ‘established means’ for keeping advertisers in line with both these pieces of legislation. This means that the law itself is not usually enforced formally through the courts; instead the ASA is first allowed to tackle any problems under the Advertising Codes. This approach works well in the overwhelming majority of cases. The ASA is able to take action quickly and this avoids clogging up our court system.
Why do websites use third-party ad serving companies?
Many websites, specially those providing free information or content, depend on advertising to continue operations. Many of these sites don't have the technical and business development infrastructure to recruit their own advertiser accounts and serve their own ads. As a result, they rely on other websites, third party advertisement serving companies, to recruit advertisers and serve those ads on publishers' sites. This arrangement allows websites to focus on what they do best and save time and money.
Regulations that affect advertising
Advertising to consumers
The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations mean you cannot mislead or harass consumers by, for example:
Including false or deceptive messages.
Leaving out important information.
Using aggressive sales techniques.
