False Advertising and Commercial Speech

Question: Discuss about the False Advertising and Commercial Speech? Answer: ASA ASA stands for Advertising Standard Authority. The authority is the independent regulator of advertising in UK across all the networks of media. The authorities apply the advertising codes which are generally written up by the committees of the Advertising practice. How ASA works ASA helps consumer and other by acting on their complaints and taking necessary action whenever or wherever it is needed. If there is any misleading, harmful advertisement that is being broadcasted and if the authority gets any complaint regarding it, they xcheck on it and make sure correct decisions are taken. Two banned advertisements Two banned adverts by ASA are: News UK and Ireland Ltd t/a The Sun Paddy Power plc About the advertisements The Paddy Power plc ad was about the athlete Oscar Pistorius. At that time, his trials were about to begin for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. The Ad stated ITS OSCAR TIME, MONEY BACK IF HE WALKS and WE WILL REFUND ALL LOSING BETS ON THE OSCAR PISTORIUS TRIAL IF HE IS FOUND NOT GUILTY. The News UK and Ireland Ltd t/a The Sun ad was about a date with aPage 3 girl to whoever who had a bigger and better team. Why was the ad complained The Sun ad was complained as people believed that by offering a date with a Page 3 girl, the prize was sexist and it also objectified women ( Advertising agencies, 19925). Many also felt that providing a date with Page 3 girl was giving people incentive to gamble. The Power Paddy plc ad was reported to consider being very offensive. The ASA also realized that the ad brought advertising into the category of disrepute. Who dealt with complaints In both the cases, the matters were taken into consideration by the ASA and looked upon. Judgments were passed and results were announced on what had to be done with the advertisements. Subject to legislation The Paddy Power plc Ad broke the legislation, the CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 4.1 and 4.3 which were harm and offence. The Sun ad broke the CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 1.3 (Responsible Advertising), 8.7 which is sales and promotions, 4.1 which is harm and offence and 16.1, gambling. Outcome Both the ads were upheld and it was told that they shouldnt be broadcasted again in their current forms. It was said that in future, no other adverts should contain similar information which would cause disrespect or harm to anyone. Reason of the outcome The issues were discussed by the authorities and it was seen that the issues were serious which caused harm and offence and some other problems to various people (Tyagi Kumar, 2004). These were the reason why actions were taken and the adverts were upheld. My opinion I personally feel that correct decision was made as no Ad should hurt anyones sentiments or feelings. It should just focus on its main point and not use any person as an advantage. The Ad got correctly banned and right fines were made against it. References Advertising agencies, 19925. False Advertising and Commercial Speech: Protecting Your Clients from Public and Private Threats. New York City: Practising Law Institute. Tyagi, C. Kumar, A., 2004. Advertising Management. New Delhi, India: Atlantic Publishers Dist.