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Welcome to December's edition of Focus.
In this issue we
explore the changing face of self- regulation (SR) in the advertising industry:
how it is moving forward in a new media age, the development of pro-active
advertising monitoring and new national SR consumer awareness activities.
The first article outlines an important pan-European exercise
coordinated by EASA and conducted by self-regulatory organisations (SROs) in
early 2006 to monitor compliance levels of food advertisements on television. We
also get first hand insight into monitoring at national level from the
monitoring department of the SRC in the Netherlands. You can then read about how
SROs are working to raise the profile and consumer awareness of their SR
systems, with the aim of encouraging a greater understanding of advertising
self-regulation across the EU. Finally the third article considers the future of
self-regulation and the challenges and changes that are taking place across the
global SR landscape.
As always, if you have any feedback, please do not
hesitate to contact
us.
Oliver Gray
Director General
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Ad industry conducts
compliance research |
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A common criticism of self-regulation is that it is reactive, a system that
only comes into play when a problematic ad is shown. The advertising industry
has taken steps in recent months to change this perception. Self-regulatory
organisations (SROs), coordinated by EASA, conducted an extensive pan- European
advertising monitoring project for food advertising on television. The results -
showing the compliance levels of all television food ads in 14 EU Member States
with both national and international codes - were released in November to the
European Platform for Action on Diet, Physical Activity and Health as part of
the industry’s voluntary commitments to the Platform. Will Gilroy,
Communications Manager at the World Federation of Advertisers, explains the
importance of proactive monitoring.
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SRO awareness - raising
the profile of self-regulation |
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Over the past year advertising self-regulation has been scrutinised by many
enquiring eyes, not least by DG Sanco in a series of Roundtable meetings
bringing together EASA, the European Commission and NGOs to discuss and define
SR. All EASA members understand that to make it into the most credible and
preferred alternative to legislation, the public profile of SR has to be high
and the issue of consumer awareness addressed. Awareness campaigns and
communication endeavours at national level across Europe are aiming to do just
that.
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The future of advertising
self-regulation |
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2006 has been an important year in the development of advertising
self-regulation. Not only has the SR network seen significant growth across
Europe with EASA helping to set up new self- regulatory organisations in
existing and candidate EU Member States, but the ad industry has been able to
positively and productively engage with the European Commission. For the first
time in SR policy history, EASA and its members have had an opportunity to meet
with key EU decision makers to discuss the consideration of effective
advertising SR and how it may function within an appropriate regulatory
framework. In this article Dr Oliver Gray, Director General of EASA and
Co-Chairman of the ICC Code Revision Taskforce, explains how SR has grown in the
past year and explores the new challenges on the horizon.
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