History of Regulation

Protecting Consumers and Testing Claims

In 1961, the Advertising Association decided that it was very important that advertisements were welcomed and trusted by consumers.

Because of this, groups such as agencies, media and advertisers decided to come together to form the Committee of Advertising Practice also known as CAP and released the first edition of the British Code of Advertising Practice.

In 1962, CAP established the ASA as the independent adjudicator under the new code created. This was set up to supervise the self-regulating system to protect the public.


Introduction of the Levy

In 1973 the Minister for Consumer Protection, Shirley Williams, criticized the system for not being well known enough by the public. As a response to this, the Advertising Standards Board of Finance (ASBOF)  was set up in 1974 to provide sufficient and secure financial funding through a levy of 0.1% on advertising space costs.

The ASA is not responsible for collecting the levy itself,  the levy can also provide enough funding for the ASA to promote itself to the public.

Legal Back Stop

In 1988,  the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations was introduced and provided the ASA with the legal backing from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). These regulations enabled the ASA to refer advertisers who continued to mislead claims and refused to co-operate with the self regulatory system, to the OFT for legal action.

The ASA still has the ability to refer advertisers to OFT for unfair or misleading advertisements. However, today they are referred under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008, which replaced the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations 1988.

Referral to the OFT is considered to be a last resort and is only used rarely: the majority of advertisers work within the system.

Becoming the One Stop Shop

After forty years of successful self regulation of non-broadcast adverts, in 2004 the ASA and CAP system assumed responsibility for TV and radio adverts.

The co-regulatory agreement created for the first time in the UK a single regulator for advertising – a one-stop shop for advertising complaints.
To create the one-stop shop, institutions similar to the ASA and CAP were established. The Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice were created to write and maintain the Broadcast Advertising Codes.

The Broadcast Advertising Standards Board of Finance (BASBOF) were established to collect the 0.1% levy on broadcast advertising space costs and an ASA (Broadcast) was launched to administer the Codes.

The system runs as a single advertising regulator. This is particularly important for members of the public who want a complaints system that’s easy to navigate.

The ASA recieved 100 complaints in its first year of operation, now it receives around 26,000 complaints a year. This is mainly due to the fact that the one-stop shop ASA is now well known and it has been made easier to complain.

Advertising Under Control

45 years later, the majoirty of advertising in the UK complies with the Codes. The ASA compliance surveys reveal that more than 97% of adverts are in line with the Advertising Codes.

The vast majority of TV and radio adverts are pre-cleared before they go on air. Free help and guidance is offered to non-broadcast advertisers publishing the millions of non-broadcast adverts in the UK each year, in the form of the Copy Advice team who offer free, independent and expert advice on how to avoid failing foul of the rules.

Because the industry is has to make self-regulation effective, advertisements that break the Codes can be withdrawn without the need to resort to legal action. A range of sanctions can be given as punishment. For example, advertisers who continue to flout the rules can be denied access to advertising media space.

Today’s self-regulatory system has come a long way since 1962, winning the confidence of consumers, industry and government along the way.

What’s next for advertising Self Regulation?

Over the years, the advertising self-regulatory system has responded to changes in society and media. The system is continuing to prevent any adverts that mislead, harm or offend. A major challenge for the system is to maintain standards in fast-developing new media as effectively as in established media.


Video on-demand

In late 2009, following the UK government’s decision that new rules relating to video-on-demand (VOD) services should be delivered under a co-regulatory framework.

The ASA entered into a co-regulatory partnership with Ofcom to regulate advertisements with VOD services. Because of the rise of VOD consumers, they are able to watch programmes at a time of their own choosing, it was necessary that these new services also comply with the same rules that are given to programming on TV.

In 210 the first complaint made against adverts accompanying VOD was upheld by the ASA, because the advert had not been shown during a suitable programme.

As with broadcast advertising, broadcasters who continually air adverts that break the Codes can be referred to Ofcom, which has the power to fine them or even take away their license.

Digital Media

In 1995 the self-regulation of the internet began as the ASA’s responsibility was extended to cover advertisements in ‘non-broadcast electronic media’.

Because of the growth in online content and usage, in 2007 the Internet became the second most complained about medium behind television - it had approximately 3,000 complaints per year - and has remained that number of complaints ever since.
However, nearly two-thirds of these complaints fell outside of the ASA’s responsibility as they related to claims made on companies’ own websites.

To address the regulatory gap and to broaden the existing protections for consumers and children online, it was recommended that the ASA extend its responsibility in digital media to cover marketing communications on companies’ own websites.

In 2010, the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP), responded to the request of the extension by announcing that the ASA’s online responsibility was to cover advertisers own marketing communications on their own websites and in other non-paid-for space under their control, such as social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Journalistic and editorial content and material related to causes and ideas - except those that are direct solicitations of donations for fund-raising - are excluded from the ASA's responsibility.

The extended responsibility was put into practice in March 2011, following a six month period of time to allow the ASA and CAP to conduct training work to raise awareness and educate business on the requirements of the CAP Code.

Today, over 30 million press adverts alone are published in the UK each year. Consumers are enthusiastic recipients of advertising, who enjoy its entertainment value and make use of the information it provides.

The flexibility of the system to respond to changes in society and technology means self and co-regulation continues to be the most effective way to secure high standards in advertising – both for business and consumers.

All information taken and edited from the ASA's Official Website.