WHAT AND WHO ARE ASA/CAP?

The ASA is the Advertising Standards Authority which generally ensures that advertising in all forms of media such as newspapers, magazines and billboards are legal and truthful. Through this if an advertisement fails the following then it may be amended or withdrawn. There are two distinctive categories for what the ASA covers and what they don't. For example, The work in which the ASA covers advertisement in is as such: Magazines and newspapers, Radio and TV, Television shopping channels, Posters, Leaflets and brochures, Commercial email and mobile messages and Sale promotions. However they may cover smaller advertisements that I have not named. As well as what they cover, the ASA does not cover the following: Sponsorship of events or tv programmes, Packaging, Shop windows, Telephone calls, Fly-posting, Private classified ads, Press releases, Political ads and the online editorials. 

Basically, the ASA is what makes the advertisement come across as accurate and not misleading. The advertising codes ASA apply concentrate on these two things, as it may lead to offending audiences by seeing certain things within the advert which have not been looked upon and it may even harm young audiences watching it, and this is exactly what the ASA is for - to make sure advertisement is decent and honest as well as legal and truthful. ASA proactively checks ads that appear every year in the UK, the ASA act on complaints to make sure that the consumers of the adverts are protected from misleading or harmful media within the adverts. Within this line of business, even ONE single complaint can lead to a formal investigation regarding the advertisement and its codes. These complaints may refer to whether or not you may think there is something wrong with the advert you have seen or heard or even had great difficultly with the shopping channels etc.

Statistics of the ASA:

The ASA handled 31,458 complaints about 22,397 different adverts.

Nearly 94% of the complaints came from the public.

In 2016, the ASA resolved 28,521 complaints resulting in a record 4,824 ads being changed or withdrawn.

The difference between CAP and ASA is that CAP writes the advertising codes, and ASA assesses if ads breach the advertising codes. CAP is the Committees of Advertising Practice, who write the advertising codes which ASA apply.

CAP is used to analyse adverts to see if they are appropriate to air on television, the ASA check them by looking for CAP codes. If an advert uses a single CAP code then the advert will be deemed for being inappropriateness and be scrapped straight away from the television station that it is being represented on. There are many codes that need to be addressed when producing an advert and many procedures need to be put into place. There are regulations and terms that ASA follow. However the producers of the adverts would have to look at the codes CAP create to produce their advert accordingly. A few of the codes and terms in which producers have to follow are the following:

-Harmful and offensive adverts

These are rules to ensure that adverts do not cause harm or serious distress to audiences due to using shock tactics, unsafe practices or photosensitive epilepsy.

-Children (Whether or not it's appropriate)

Rules that must be followed if directing ads at children or featuring them.

-Privacy

Rules about depicting members of the public, referring to people with a public profile implying endorsement.

-Environment claims

Rules about making 'green' claims for products or services. Rules cover evidence, the clarity of claims and life cycle of products.

-Gambling

Social responsibility rules for gambling and spread betting. The rules cover content and targeting are designed to protect audiences under 18 and the vulnerable.

-Alcohol

Social responsibility rules for alcoholic drinks. The rules cover content and targeting are designed to protect under 18s and the wider population.

-Tobacco

Rules to prevent promotion of smoking via ads for non-tobacco products.

Each section which CAP claims as inappropriate has its own rules to follow regarding of what can be shown and what cannot.

The advertising codes for advertising applies to all forms of product portrayal including on television channels, text or even interactive TV ads. The code is focused on providing rules for;

1.Compliance
2.Harm and Offence
3.Privacy
4.Weight control and slimming
5.Alcohol
6.Motoring
7.Instructional courses
8.Pornography
9.Scheduling
10. Faith or religion

Examples of adverts which may not follow the advertising codes:

(Paddy Power July 2010) - This advert may be withdrawn due to the offensive way in which blind people are viewed to be, and because it may condone cruelty to animals in the way that the cat was kicked and just brushed off instead of appearing worried the man within the advert just promoted Paddy Power. However ASA had the verdict in which they said that the ad was not offensive in itself to create as it referenced to blind people and in fact the actors within the advert were actual blind football players many of whom represented the national team. Paddy Power also contacted the manager of the England Blind Football Team and produced a letter of support from them. With all the complaints that this advert recieved, ASA's final decision was that the ad was not stigmatising blind people and in fact most viewers would just see it as humorous. Although most adverts with disability show sensitivity towards the subject this one may not.

(Zara,2017) - Although this campaign/advert may be trying to influence a positive image to rise, it also contradicts the entire slogan of "love your curves." even though smaller women may have curves, traditionally "curves" would suggest bigger models in which Zara stigmatises and does not use within their advert. Despite the positive movement behind the slogan, this may offend younger audiences in society today as body image is seen as extremely important to many young women who envy models such as those hired by Zara. This advert may urge women to "Love" their curves but really where in the adverts are the curves highlighted? The image of the two models with distinctively un-curvy figures makes the advert entirely misleading - even though slimmer models should love their bodies too. 

Many complaints were made as today the self esteem of girls and women are statistically lower than before, and complaints across media websites such as Instagram and twitter threw outrage across the web with comments such as "The impact this is going to have on young girls is not positive." or  "This is the sort of thing that makes my 15 year old, size 8 daughter think she's fat." as well as "More than ever we need to protect the self esteem of young girls." these comments are the visual workings of many worried parents and reflect many offended audiences.