ASA Online Ads
Posted by admin on March, 10th 2011
The UK Code of Non-Broadcast Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing (CAP Code) which came in to force on 1st September 2010 (with a 6 month grace period) now applies to all online marketing communications in the UK as from 1st March 2011.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has extended its remit to include ALL online marketing materials, affecting internet marketing companies across the UK.
The purpose of the latest changes is to ensure that marketing materials on UK websites are legal, decent and truthful. The implications for online advertisers is that any claims made through online marketing communications must be verifiable, i.e. companies will no longer be able to make false or unverifiable claims. This also includes content generated by users, not just companies. Anything posted by your company or its customers on Facebook and Twitter for example would also come under the ASA’s reach. Reviews or testimonials that users publish on your website or social media channels will be covered by the CAP Code meaning that in practice, sites will require greater moderation and moderators who understand how the code ought to be interpreted.
As detailed on the CAP website, advertisers and marketers will be given the opportunity to take down offending material before any sanctions are taken. However, in the event of those involved neglecting to act on these requests, the ASA will be able to remove paid for search advertising with the agreement of the search engines but the ASA may place their own advertisements highlighting an advertiser’s repeated non-compliance and list the advertiser’s details on their own website.
The changes spell the end for deliberately misleading ads and offensive material posted online. Whilst it is great that social media has been recognised as an effective marketing tool, it is concerning that smaller companies without the resources to strictly police their social media channels could fall foul of the ASA.
At JPR Marketing, we fully support the changes as we have felt that online communications should be more transparent and accountable. It will be interesting to see how this plays out and if the ASA will punish early offenders more harshly as an example to all others in the industry. Only time will tell.
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