Case Study of Existing Advertising Campaigns researching the role and impact of - Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and Ofcom

What is the Background of the ASA?

The committee of Advertising Practice is long for CAP. During the period of 1962 ASA started to become independent. "In 1962, CAP established the ASA as the independent adjudicator under the newly created Code. The Authority was set up to supervise the working of the new self-regulatory system in the public interest". In 1988 a legal backstop was introduced "In 1988, the introduction of the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations provided the ASA with legal backing from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). These regulations enabled the ASA, for the first time, to refer advertisers who made persistent misleading claims and refused to co-operate with the self-regulatory system to the OFT for legal action." This meaning that advertisers who claimed falsy will be considered in getting the advertisement they created being taken down by the ASA is it were to breach their codes.

http://www.asa.org.uk/About-ASA/Our-history.aspx

What is the role of the ASA in the regulation of Advertisements?

ASA regulate many types of adverts from  Magazine & Newspaper adverts to Cinema Commercials. Below is the full list of advertisements they regulate:

• Magazine and newspaper advertisements 
• Radio and TV commercials (not programmes or programme sponsorship) 
• Television Shopping Channels 
• Advertisements on the Internet, including:
  • banner and display ads
  • paid-for (sponsored) search
  • Marketing on companies’ own websites and in other space they control like social networking sites Twitter and Facebook 
• Commercial e-mail and SMS text message ads
• Posters on legitimate poster sites (not fly posters)
• Leaflets and brochures 
• Cinema commercials 
• Advertising within smartphone and tablet apps
• Direct mail (advertising sent through the post and addressed to you personally) 
• Door drops and circulars (advertising posted through the letter box without your name on) 
• Ads on CD ROMs, DVD and video, and faxes
• Sales promotions, such as special offers, prize draws and competitions wherever they appear.

All theses types of adverts are regulated on a daily basis and all producers of the adverts need to take the ASA's regulations into mind otherwise could result in their advert being stopped from being aired on TV and banned.

http://www.asa.org.uk/Consumers/What-we-cover.aspx

What is the legal standing of the ASA in relation to Ofcom?

The quoted paragraph below explain what will happen when ASA find an advert which has breached its terms and conditions. This means when they find out the breached content they will be able to refer to their legal backdrop to see whether the advertisemtn has to be taken down or not.

"In exceptional circumstances where an advertiser has so seriously or repeatedly breached the Codes for misleading advertising or a broadcaster continues to run problem ads then the ASA can refer to its legal backstops.The Trading Standards is the ASA’s legal backstop for non-broadcast advertising and can initiate statutory interventions against advertisers that fail to co-operate with the self-regulatory system. Ofcom is the ASA’s co-regulatory partner for broadcast ads and the ASA can refer problem broadcasters to them for consideration of sanctions including fines and revoking licences"

Some advertisements cost a lot of money to make and even to puyt in a prime time slot but advertisers tend to amend the breached codes but with ASA's legal backdrop it is implying that ever TV advert or event Web Adverts cannot false advert otherwise legal action can be taken against them and result in their TV advert being withdrawn.

http://asa.org.uk/News-resources/FAQs.aspx

What are the procedures of the organisation?

The ASA  has shown how to make a complaint for the advertisement they are willing to complain about. There are procedures on the website named in steps for the person to follow to see if it qualifies for moderation or not. Firstly you have to check "whether your complaint is covered by the ASA" if ti is you can submit a form to the ASA for them to regualte.the ASA states that they can "often resolve complaints quickly. For instance, we can have an ad changed if it’s a minor mistake or chase up an undelivered mail order item on your behalf. If it’s not that simple, we may need to conduct a formal investigation, which can take longer." This is assuring for the person who has complained about the advertised as they can get quick responses or responses that take some time as they need to investigate further into the advert.

Here is the full complaint procedures:

1. First, check whether your complaint is covered by the ASA.  Find out what we cover here, or if you're still not sure, call/textphone us to discuss your complaint.  Our contact details can be found here.

2. If it is, submit your complaint online, or telephone,textphone, or write to us.

3. We’ll give you the name of the person who will handle the case and be your point of contact.

4. The names of those who make a complaint are kept confidential from the advertiser, unless you are asking us to have your name taken off a mailing list or the complaint is from an individual, competitor or organisation with obvious interest in the outcome of the complaint (such as consumer bodies and pressure groups).

5. We can often resolve complaints quickly. For instance, we can have an ad changed if it’s a minor mistake or chase up an undelivered mail order item on your behalf. If it’s not that simple, we may need to conduct a formal investigation, which can take longer.

6. A formal investigation means the ASA Council will rule on the matter. We contact all parties involved (complainant, advertiser and, if appropriate, the broadcaster) and inform them of the process. We ask the advertiser and broadcaster to provide evidence for any claims they make and, if needed, to provide justification about why they thought the ad was appropriate.

7. We consider all the information we receive and place the facts of the case before the ASA Council which decides whether the Advertising Codes have been breached.

8. We publish our rulings in full every Wednesday and make the findings available to the media.

9. Ads that break the rules are required to be amended or withdrawn, if they aren’t, we will take steps to make sure our ruling is followed.

10. We take every step to make sure the process is fair, which is why there is an Independent Review Procedure that allows complainants and advertisers to request a review of a ruling.

http://asa.org.uk/News-resources/FAQs/Dealing-with-complaints-FAQs.aspx

What are the key parts of the code governing food and soft drink advertising and children and advertising that you think will be important to bare in mind for your advert?

Children's Advertising Codes:

These codes are taken very seriously by the ASA because if it wasn't it will result in children learning bad habits and potentially life threatening. For example if they were encouraged to eat chocolate everyday as it was supposedly "good for you" it could result them having diabetes in the future. This is where ASA step in as they forbid manufacturers from encouraging bad habits.

	Advertisements must not condone or encourage bullying.
	Advertisements must not portray or represent children in a sexual way.
	Advertisements must not imply that children are likely to be ridiculed, inferior to others, less popular, disloyal or have let someone down if they or their family do not use a product or service. When creating my adverts I will need to take all of these codes into consideration to ensure I meet the ASA's regulation for advertising.

Codes for advertising Food & Drink

Advertisements must neither try to sell to children by appealing to emotions such as pity, fear, loyalty or self-confidence nor suggest that having the advertised product somehow confers superiority, for example, making a child more confident, clever, popular or successful

Advertisements addressed to children must not urge children to buy or persuade others to buy and must avoid high-pressure or hard-sell techniques. Neither the words used nor the tone of the advertisement should suggest that young viewers could be bullied, cajoled or otherwise put under pressure to acquire the advertised item http://www.cap.org.uk/Advertising-Codes/Broadcast/CodeItem.aspx?cscid={933ab0c3-ed5b-4cb7-ba39-07e337bbc0f0}#.VRJmGvmsUZk http://www.cap.org.uk/Advertising-Codes/Broadcast/CodeItem.aspx?cscid={d2bcc9e5-79e5-408a-8db4-8f1eebc49707} Advertising Case Studies

This malteser Advert was quite unique and funny at the same time. The narrative here is that they want to enjoy the maltesers. For example at 0:03 she says "ooh go on then" meaning she wanted the malteser and after that she eats a malteser. Followed by that the other woman says " Its only 11 Calories" this tells the audience that per chocolate it has low calories. She also mentions the word "Naughty" before the calorie comment is said and then "not naughty" after the 11 calorie statement has been said. At 0:12 she looks at their "boyfriends" and starts to get out of his hand. At 0:19 the advert turns very inappropriate as the men are "sexually" sleeping together which is very inappropriate for children. This advert will not be suitable for children as it shows sexual content. Also should not be aired before the watershed as children maybe watching TV at those times.


Here is a tango advert that has been banned from viewing. Throughout the video from 0:16-0;46 we are shown fruits falling from a downhill road. These fruits are contained in the drink according to tango. The reason why it was banned from viewing is that it was misleading the audience very badly. This meaning the element of having fruits may imply that the flavour but these were fresh fruits which meant that the Tango drink should have had fresh fruit which it didn't. Also while the fresh fruits are misleading the amount of fruits that were used went to waste as they just used it for an advert and probably threw them away. Also the slogan at 0:58 "It's clear you've been tango'd" shows a correlation between the fruits as it is very clear the fruits are coming down a slope and its visible due to the colour but there was no reason for wasting that many fruits which resulted in the advert being banned.


This morrisons advert was banned by the ASA. Throughout the whole advert we are shown the mum making a burger for her daughter which is shown at 0:13. It also shows that the burger includes tomatoes, onions and a piece of lettuce which makes it healthy in a form. At 0:21 we see the little girl take off all the toppings that were on the burger just leaving the beef there. This is why the advert was banned as it encouraged children to remove the salad from the burger and just enjoy the unhealthy part of it. Children tend to do things the are not told to do and this was one of them. Even though at the end at 0:28 the slogan says "Love it cheaper" there is no reason why they needed to encourage children to remove the salad. Maybe it was done to show the realistic characteristics of the children but when shown on TV it made parents question the advert.




The lucozade brand is well known for it hydrating the body and used as a recommended drink when going for a run but this lucozade advert was banned. The only reason why this advert was banned was the slogan at the end which mislead everyone. At 0:59 the slogan stated that "Hydrates and Fuels you better than water" which is not true at all. Thinking about it logically it contains alot of sugars which is bad for the body. They claimed that it helps the body hydrate faster than water which mislead the viewers aswell as that the people in the video are probably actors who encourage to use the product by making them take a "fake" test.

Case Study of Audience - Sources, Information and Classification

Advertising Techniques and association - Lines of appeal

Celebrity Endorsed:

Celebrity endorsed adverts helps the product itself reach more types of audiences. In this case we have Rowan Atkinson who is well know for the Mr.Bean series. He has appeared in the Snickers advert to boost the products name. At 0:10 we see Rowan trying to follow the ninjas which is not working well out for him. The location this is set at is in China or Japan but the celebrity himself is from the UK which tells the audience that this product has been aimed at people from the UK mainly. Also his Ethnicity is white so this means that the Snickers Product itself has been aimed at White British people. Also the Gender that has been shown here are all males and there are no signs of female anywhere down the 1 Minute advert which shows that it'll be mainly aimed at a target audience of males. Rowan Atkinson is a very famous person and has starred in Movies such as Johnny English Reborn & Mr.Bean's Holiday, the Interests that the audience might have in mind are Comedy & Action which are also shown in the advert itself. For example at 0:42 we see him fall into a place of fighters and he jumps up which shows action after consuming a Snickers Bar. While this is a celebrity endorsed product this advert itself relates to the Uses and Gratification theory Entertainment/Diversion becuase of the fact that it contains humour and action within it.

Hidden Message:

Some adverts contain hidden messages about the product itself which here Galaxy has shown in this advert with Audrey Hepburn. This advert has a celebrity but it also contains a hidden message about the product itself. This advert from Galaxy is different from other mainstream confectionery items because of the target audience it is aimed at. We see Audrey Hepburn throughout the whole narrative which shows that the Galaxy Product is aimed at females. For example at 0:10 we are shown a close up of the main character which in this case is Audrey herself. We are shown the problem where the fruit stall has dropped and the bus is stranded at 0:09 and she gets out of the bus and goes to the males car and sits at the back. But at 0:50 we are shown a proper close up of the Galaxy itself and its type "Smooth Milk" which shows that the product is going to be luxurious. At 0:55 after she places it into her mouth she relaxes and lays back. The hidden message that Galaxy have portrayed is relaxation. To further exaggerate that they have used a song that is slow and calming. This advert falls into the category of Entertainment/Diversion because of the fact that the narrative has shown that in a situation that is tense we can relax by having a galaxy.

Overt Message:

An overt message in an advert here tends to shown the message they are trying to send to the audience loud and clear. There is no hidden messages in this advert what so ever and everything is said by the Voice Over (Voice of God) throughout the whole advert itself. At 0:03 the audience are told the short narrative behind the Twix Bar. Also we are shown the Ethnicity this was aimed at which is white people. In this case Twix as we know have aimed their product at everybody and no ethnicity has been forbidden from eating it. The message they are trying to show here is what side of Twix does the audience like. We are shown the start of this dilemma at 0:05 where the Twix bar breaks in half and they have an argument over it. At 0:40 we are shown the way the Twix bars are made to shown the audience what ingredients are put into the Twix while at 0:41 we are told the same process in a different way just for the sake of the narrative. After the story behind each side of the Twix bar has been shown to the audience we are greeted with a outro at 0:58 which says "Try both and pick a side" which is the overt message here. The narrative was done to tell the audience that there are two bars in a Twix wrapper and you can chose the one that you like hence the reason why we are told that they only share a drive way at 0:55. The gender that product is mainly aimed at is males because the two main characters of the advert are males and no females where shown except at the start of the advert where the narrative begins. This advert shows the "Social Relationships" category of the Uses and Gratification theory as it told the audience to "Pick a Side" which can relate to most people nowadays. For example when watching a football match people tend to chose the team that is well known or that are winning and in this case we are told to pick a side which we like and people can chose the same side because they are friends.

Solution to a Problem:

A solution to a problem advert usually shows the problem to the audience before introducing the solution to the audience. At 0:03 the audience are introduced to a high speed police chase with a BMW which instantly puts the advert into the category of Entertainment/Diversion of the Uses and Gratification theory. This is because the advert itself involves a lot of action and fast driving which makes the audience more engaged. At 0:29 the thieves and the Police Officers stop and one of the Police officers pulls out a Kitkat and we have a close-up of him opening the KitKat itself. From then on until 0:57 they have a conversation and are given a head start to escape the Police. The message that Kitkat have shown is that if you are in a situation where its tense or stressful have a kitkat. This is shown at 0:57 where the graphic overlay of the product itself is shown. Also they have shown their slogan which is "Have a break, Have a kitkat" to tell the audience that KitKat is the best product for having a quick break. The gender that this product is aimed at is males as there were no female presence in the video itself. Also the Interests the audience might have is action which is shown at 0:05 with the high speed car chase and the Location would be UK as it has been filmed in the UK with UK police officers. So overall this product is aimed at British Males as the ethnicity here was a mixture of Black and White people.

Humorous:

The advert that Cadbury has created here is humorous. Usually adverts that include humour is mainly aimed at a Younger audience. This is because it makes them laugh and easily get their full attention to something. For example at 0:26 we see the mid shot of the two children in the video syncing their eyebrows to the beat of the song. The reason why this will look humorous and amusing is the fact that Cadbury have taken two boring little children and made them into someone who can make you laugh. Also to identify the target audience they have deliberately put in the children to show to the audience that the Cadbury's chocolate bar is mainly aimed at children. This advert will fall into the Entertainment/Diversion category for the Uses and Gratification theory as humour is a form of entertainment. Anything that makes you engaged or amused is a form of entertainment which this advert is. At 0:50 we can see that the little girl pulls out a balloon which makes a very squeaky noise which can be entertainment for children, this yet again tells the audience that Cadburys chocolate is aimed at a target audience of children. The gender for this product shows that it is for both young males and females this is the fact that at 0:01 we are introduced to the main characters of the advert itself of which one is a male and the other is a female. At 0:01 also we are shown the ethnicity of the characters in this advert who are white but Cadburys is a well distributed product which of most/if not all ethnicities have tried it,