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 ASA was set up in 1961 when the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) established them, this was set up as an independent adjudicator so they could deal with the adverts that had breached the new codes there were made by the Committee of Advertising Practice. 

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

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

The system that the ASA uses when regulating advertisements is paid for by the industry, who write the rules which the ASA will independently be enforced, however when the are regulating under TV and radio advertising they do this under Ofcom. The ASA is funded by advertisers which is collected by the Advertising Standards Board of Finance (ASBOF) and the Broadcast Advertising Standards Board of Finance (BASBOF)  which allows them to funded appropriately and to continue independently, the company also receive no Government funding so that the tax payer has no involvement in the funds. The ASA regulate magazine and newspaper advertisements, radio and television commercials, they also regulate advertisements on the internet for example banner and display ads.

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

Ofcom established a co-regulatory partnership with the ASA in 2004, due to the 2003 Communications Act which placed a obligation to seek a different form of regulation where it would be practical. This means that whilst the ASA deals with the day-to-day basis for broadcast advertising content standards, other organisations like The Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) are responsible for writing and maintaining the UK Code of Broadcast Advertising but Ofcom is the organisation that has to check and agree to the major changes to the Code.

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

What are the procedures of the organisation?

The procedure for making a complaint begins with the person trying to make a complaint has to check whether the ASA covers the complaint that you are going to make, then you can either submit your complaint online or through another source for example you could text, telephone or write to them. Once you have complained the ASA then provide you with a name of the person that will be seeing to your complaint, who will also be your point of contact, complaints are usually dealt with quickly as they can have minor changes made in no time, however if this is not the case they then have to conduct a formal investigation which will take a considerably longer amount of time. The formal investigation means that the ASA council decides what the judgement for the complaint should be, this takes place with all the appropriate people involved for example the advertiser and the person/people who make the complaint asking them to prove evidence for the claims that they have made about why the ad was appropriate or not.

Source: http://www.asa.org.uk/Consumers/How-to-complain.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?

The key parts of the code governing food and soft drink advertising are to make sure that people like the health professionals and consumers are happy with the adverts and do not have any concerns about the advert.  The ASA are committed to make sure that the ads do not contain that will cause a child any mental, physical or moral harm. However the ASA cannot say whether the product is good or bad but they can make sure that the advert stays within the advertising rules.  In 2007 the industry were shown criticisms and concerns which in turn made them introduce new stricter rules for adverts especially for under 16's though there are more restrictions for primary school children. Children and advertising is crucial when protecting children as the advertisement that is aimed at being shown to a child or being seen by the child has to be appropriate for their age, the advertising rules that the ASA follow for children is strict as children tend to believe everything that they see on the television . The ASA usually work with the majority of advertisers in making sure that the advert is appropriate though the ASA will not hesitate when banning an advert that could cause any sort of harm to a child. When I go on to make my chocolate advert I will have to keep in mind the different factors like the health benefits of the product, the correct information about the chocolate bar that I am trying to advertise to my audience of teenagers, I would also have to bare in mind the price as most people are not going to be willing to pay for a overly priced chocolate bar and it can not be to cheap as i do not want to indirectly promote obesity. 

Source: http://www.asa.org.uk/News-resources/Hot-Topics/Food-and-soft-drink.aspx
               http://www.asa.org.uk/News-resources/Hot-Topics/Children-and-advertising.aspx

Choose at least 4 TV Advertising case studies of (two) problematic food and soft drink advertising and (two) children and advertising

Advert 1: Food and Drink

The Burger King advert begins with a motel sign which is followed by a hand locking the motel door, the advert continues with a close-up of the mans eyes looking very suspicious whilst surveying the area. At 0:04 you see the man continue with his actions by hastily closing the curtains, this is followed by a shot of the man sitting on the floor on the other side of the bed eating his burger. At 0:15 the door starts banging and the man turns in shock towards the door to see a cow standing in the doorway, followed by the man trying to defend himself to the cow but it refuses to listen. The ASA upheld this advert as two viewers complained that the burger that was shown in the advert was significantly larger than the one sold in Burger King stores, this advert was upheld because the advert was misleading as the ASA purchased three burgers and saw that the filling was considerably less than it appeared in the advert. This will be important to bare in mind when producing my advert as I would not to want to mislead my audience with the wrong information about my product.


 
Advert 2: Food and drink

An advert for Rowse Honey viewed in April 2012, begins with a young boy sitting at the dinning table waiting to have his breakfast, at 0:03 he gets up from his seat to get the honey from the cupboard. The advert continues with the boy slightly nodding as if to say that he is ready for the day ahead, the advert then continues with showing the events that the boy goes through during the day an example would be that at 0:10 it shows the boy playing football, doing schoolwork, acting, cooking which included using more if the honey and showing him in class. At 0:22 when the boy gets home you see his mum squeezing honey on the roast chicken, the advert also claimed that it gave natural fuel for busy bees. The advert was upheld as it breached the misleading information code and the substantiation code as the advert did not provide the viewer with any evidence that it slowly released energy which mislead the audience to believe that it did. I will need to bare in mind that when i produce my advert that all the nutritional facts about the chocolate bar are correct.

Advert 3: Problematic children

The advert for a new MTV show The Valleys begins with a girl sitting on a girl on her hands and knees whilst other people are around them, the advert then continues with them dancing. AT 0:04 you see an girl flashing her underwear with a man's hand on her bottom whilst his face leans towards it, this then carries on until 0:07 when you see a man on the bed with his shirt pushed and two women touching him. The advert also previews a man taking of his shirt and flexing his pecks followed buy a women wearing a low cut top flexing her breasts which he proceeds to rub his face in her breasts, suddenly we are shown two women kissing and other women jumping on a bed flashing their underwear. This advert was upheld as it breached the scheduling rule as the advert appeared on television before 9pm as it was not appropriate for children of young ages due to its sexual content. I will have to bare in mind what time I decide to schedule my advert as I would want the advert to appeal to right audience.



Advert 4: Children 

The advert for Mazuma Mobile's Maz Mazuma begins with two children playing instruments whilst the jingle is playing in the background this is then followed by the girl flicking her hair side to side and the boy jamming on the guitar. At 0:03 you then get the graphic of the company flash onto the screen twice so that it stays in your mind, this is then followed by the girl at 0:06 showing a phone to the audience and the boy follows with a large amount of money in his hand.The boy and girl then switch places and she had the money in her hands and his has the phone in his hand, the advert then continues with the boy dipping the girl, at 0:08 the graphics are shown twice again. The advert at 0:17 shows the audience that you could be paid up to £150.00 though at the bottom of the screen is says "Subject to make and model". The ASA upheld this advert as it mislead children into believing that they were able to send the phones of themselves without their parents however they did need parents permission. The advert could impact me when I go on to produce my own advert as I would want to make sure that I do not take advantage of a child's knowledge.

Advertising information

Codes and Conventions

Style:

Humorous:



This advert would be classified as humorous as it is saying that eating maltesers makes you naughty so you are likely to get up to mischief and do something funny like in the advert they put to sleeping men in a compromising position. Humour is used in an advert as this is likely to gather the attention of an audience of any age to do something mischievous.

Surreal:



Surrealism is used in an advert as the younger audience are more likely to find the advert exciting so they will tell their parents about the advert so they can o the same as the people under the clothes are in the advert. This advert is an example of surrealism as you would not see large clothes dancing without someone inside them.

Dramatic:



Adverts use drama as a way of capturing their audiences attention as you are more likely to remember the advert if something iconic and dramatic happens, in this advert it would be the celebrity Jean Claude Van Damme who would appeal to men and women who have seen his films. The scenario also adds to the drama as he is on a mountain with music in the background that slowly but quietly builds up, his voice is also quite deep so it sets the dramatic feel.

Parody:



Adverts also use the form of a parody as the audience will be able to make an association between the other product or situation they has been used before, for example in this advert it is a parody of the Royal Wedding which everyone can associate with as it known about nationally so everyone would remember the advert.

Forms:

Realist narrative:



Realist narrative is used in an advert as they are trying to get the audience to buy the product because the have a similar problem for example in this vanish advert it shows the dancer has a stain in her saree and she doesn't know how to get it out but with the help of vanish it comes out so this would appeal to Indian women as they are the people who would buy it for sarees.

Anti realist narrative:



Anti realist narrative is used in an advert as you would not typically see a car being made out of cake so this would gain the audiences interest as they would like to see how it is done, this would appeal to youngsters as they are likely going to try and see what cakes are used and if they eat those cakes.

Animations:



Animated adverts are used as they make the advert more intriguing as it makes you wonder what the advert will be about so it keeps you engaged until the end as you want to know what it is about, animations also make the advert seem  peaceful and calm which has a calm vibe to it so you can enjoy it without the music distracting you from the advert.

Documentary:



This advert would be considered a documentary as it is filmed in the style of a documentary as it talks to the 'police officers' about what is happening it also give you facts about the product and about the place where you can save marmite from neglect. This advert would make you watch it as it is not clear what it is about at the beginning.

Talking head:



Talking head adverts are used to give the audience more information about certain topics for example in this advert it talks about debt and how the company can help you with your problems so this would appeal to an older audience as they are more likely to want to know how to fix problems like debt and finance issues to be able to support their children.

Stand alone:



Stand alone adverts are used to make the audience remember the product they are trying to sell so they make sure that they do not make a similar advert so that every time someone sees the advert they think of the product in the advert and what the product means to others. For example in this avert you see one boy travel through different eras but with the same bread showing the importance of the bread.

Series:



The BT Infinity adverts are a series of adverts as they continue from the previous one for example it shows Joe and Anna move in then it follows with them living there and Adam getting a girlfriend, this kind of advert makes the product  more memorable as it is made to be like a story so you are more likely to remember what has happened previously.