ReactS : Advertising Lawyers & Attorneys : Reed Smith Law Firm : Marketing Regulations, Product Placement

As a famous frog once said “it isn’t easy being green”. That can certainly be said of trying to make a successful environmental or green claim in advertising today. The Committee of Advertising Practice, (CAP) and its broadcast equivalent BCAP, has had guidance on environmental claims for some time. Now DEFRA, Dept for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, has published its draft updated guidance on Green Claims, having consulted with the industry and undertaken a series of workshops with advertising practitioners.

This publication is timely. The Advertising Standards Agency, (ASA), has recently ruled that the COI advertisement “Act on CO2” overstated the risk of climate change and banned two poster advertisements, though cleared a television commercial. The ASA received over 1,000 complaints about the advertisements.

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Ad agency M&C Saatchi were back, appointed by the Conservative Part to steer the party’s and David Cameron’s advertising campaign. The old Saatchi and Saatchi team are of course famous for the advertisement for Margaret Thatcher’s 1979 Conservative Party campaign, “Labour isn’t working” which some argue won the Tories the election. In the 1987 election it is alleged that Thatcher spent £3 million in the last four days of the campaign.

Did the 2010 campaign produce any memorable advertising though? Both the Tories and Labour resorted to spoofs and old clichés. Did anyone notice the Liberal Democrat campaign? No one could ever have envisaged the resulting Lib –Con alliance, but how far can the parties go in the advertising battle to win the voters? The advertising codes of practice (known as the CAP and BCAP rules enforced by the ASA, Advertising Standards Agency) require all advertisements to be legal, decent, honest, and truthful but MPs argued that the Codes ought not to apply to political advertising for elections.

The argument is that it is inappropriate for the ASA, as a non-elected body, to intervene in the democratic process; that ASA rulings would have little practical value because the complex issues involved meant that rulings would probably be made after election day; that ASA adjudications would come within the arena of political debate; and that party political advertisements are always subject to a disproportionate amount of media scrutiny.

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Following criticism from consumer protection lobby and parents, the clothing chain Primark has withdrawn the sale of its range of padded bikini tops for girls as young as seven . The company apologised to customers for "causing offence" and is donating profits to a children's charity after the Children's Society accused Primark of "premature sexualisation and unprincipled advertising". 

Failing to observe the Advertising Codes (CAP and BCAP) over sensitive issues such as the sexualisation of children can cause enormous brand damage as well as direct losses caused from having to pull advertising campaigns and, in this case, the entire product. The new Codes coming into force later this year include not only the existing principle that advertising must not cause serious or widespread offence but also a section on children under which advertisers must not cause harm. The commercialisation of childhood is a hot topic for politicians of all parties and particularly with David Cameron. Brand owners cannot risk alienating their customers, governments or consumer groups.

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This post was written by Douglas J. Wood and Gregor J. Pryor.

We're pleased to make available our new edition of our Social Media White Paper with expanded chapters and new coverage of Social Media issues in Europe. Our first edition fast became one of the most downloaded documents on Reed Smith's website. Click here for the new edition and bookmark the entry to be sure to get ongoing revisions. You can also read the individual chapters on our sister blog, Legal Bytes.

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