EASA’s Chairman Guy Parker speaks at CONAR forum

16 May 2014

EASA’s chairman, Guy Parker (Chief Executive of the UK ASA), spoke about goals and challenges for responsible advertising at the 6th International self-regulation forum in Mexico City on 13 May.

In his keynote speech, Guy Parker explained how self-regulation has effectively responded to key concerns on how it can ensure that advertising is legal, decent, honest and truthful.

He informed participants about how EASA’s network has worked together to create best practice recommendations to provide guidance to SROs and industry on issues such as claims substantiation and how to apply the self-regulatory rules to digital marketing communications and online behavioural advertising.

Guy Parker also spoke about how EASA’s compliance monitoring exercises have a role to play in evaluating the application of self-regulation.The EU Pledge Monitoring Exercise,which showed a decrease in children’s exposure to TV food advertising for the fifth year running, is just one example of this. The forum saw the launch of the Spanish version of the ICC Framework for Responsible Marketing Communications of Alcohol. EASA’s Director General, Oliver Gray, was co-chair of the ICC’s Code-Revision Taskforce that drafted the Framework.

The forum was organized by EASA’s Mexican SRO Member CONAR to bring together key industry actors and government actors in the region to discuss how effective self-regulation protects consumers and business alike from irresponsible advertising. A round table of CONARED (the Latin American Network of Self-Regulatory Organisations) was also held during the forum.