Conclusion

This concludes the journal I will be writing about advertising law relating to the Canadian Code of Advertising Standard set in place by the ASC. Throughout my posts I have addressed many topics ranging from automobile advertising and clause 10 which is about safety and alcohol advertising. I have also included a letter to a tobacco company which voices my opinions on advertising to minors. I really hope you enjoyed it.

Who is the ASC?

ASC stands for Advertising Standard Canada. ASC is a national not-for profit organization which is a self regulated body. They have set a code which governs what advertisers can and cannot do. A brief description according to the ASC is:

"Created by the advertising industry in 1957, Advertising Standards Canada was founded on the belief that advertising self-regulation best serves the interests of the industry and the public. This principle has guided our work and our activities on behalf of our members, the public and the industry for over 50 years."

The ASC strives to ensure that all advertising adheres to the code which mostly revolves around 14 clauses which include:

 

1. Accuracy and Clarity
2. Disguised Advertising Techniques
3. Price Claims
4. Bait and Switch
5. Guarantees
6. Comparative Advertising
7. Testimonials
8. Professional or Scientific Claims
9. Imitation
10. Safety
11. Superstition and Fears
12. Advertising to Children
13. Advertising to Minors
14. Unacceptable Depictions and Portrayals

For more information on the ASC and the code visit adstandards.ca

Clause 14: Unacceptable depictions and portrayals

Clause 14 according to the ASC is:

"It is recognized that advertisements may be distasteful without necessarily conflicting with the provisions of this Clause 14; and the fact that a particular product or service may be offensive to some people is not sufficient grounds for objecting to an advertisement for that product or service.

Advertisements shall not:

(a) condone any form of personal discrimination, including that based upon race, national origin, religion, sex or age;

(b) appear in a realistic manner to exploit, condone or incite violence; nor appear to condone, or directly encourage, bullying; nor directly encourage, or exhibit obvious indifference to, unlawful behaviour;

(c) demean, denigrate or disparage one or more identifiable persons, group of persons, firms, organizations, industrial or commercial activities, professions, entities, products or services, or attempt to bring it or them into public contempt or ridicule;

(d) undermine human dignity; or display obvious indifference to, or encourage, gratuitously and without merit, conduct or attitudes that offend the standards of public decency prevailing among a significant segment of the population."

This was another clause I found had a lot of complaints. They ranged from anything between two characters acting violently towards each other or a company bashing another company.

Alcohol Adverising

Throughout the last few weeks I have learned quite a bit about alcohol advertising, or more so, what you are not allowed to do in it.
The number one thing to remember is that it is illegal to show somebody actually drinking it. It is perfectly fine to have someone holding a cup but it is a complete violation to even show a bottle with booze missing from it. Also any alcohol advertisement must not have people who may be perceived as under aged. It would be very bad for a company to have a law suit against it saying that they are advertising to minors. This is an example of an ad hat would fit the code:

 

This ad is perfect because all the models in the picture appear to be older than the legal drinking age, so there will be no confusion with whether they are under age or not. The main thing however is that no body is drinking, there may be a couple beers on the table but nobody has a bottle in their mouth.

Clause 1: Accuracy and Clarity

Today I was looking through a lot of complaints on the ASC website and I was surprised to see how many complaints were pertaining to clause 1. For those who may not know, clause 1 refers to the truthfulness and accuracy of an ad's message. According to the ASC, for an ad to comply with this clause, advertisers must consider the following:

"(a) Advertisements must not contain inaccurate, deceptive or otherwise misleading claims, statements, illustrations or representations, either direct or implied, with regard to any identified or identifiable product or service.

(b) Advertisements must not omit relevant information in a manner that, in the result, is deceptive.

(c) All pertinent details of an advertised offer must be clearly and understandably stated.

(d) Disclaimers and asterisked or footnoted information must not contradict more prominent aspects of the message and should be located and presented in such a manner as to be clearly visible and/or audible.

(e) Both in principle and practice, all advertising claims and representations must be supportable. If the support on which an advertised claim or representation depends is test or survey data, such data must be reasonably competent and reliable, reflecting accepted principles of research design and execution that characterize the current state of the art. At the same time, however, such research should be economically and technically feasible, with due recognition of the various costs of doing business.

(f) The advertiser must be clearly identified in an advocacy advertisement."

 Most of the complaints were about ads in flyers, all of them generally about a price not actually being what was advertised. However I was able to find a few complaints that were for TV ads that had nothing to do with price. A few were about the disclaimers. Advertisers must always make sure to have accurate and truthful disclaimers as well as ensure that they are large enough for the viewer to read.

Automobile Advertising

 

Vehicle advertising has changed quite a bit as the year pass on. We used to be allowed to show vehicles driving quickly and in unsafe conditions. Today, consumers are a lot more concerned about human safety, especially in advertising. In accordance to these concerns, automobile companies have been forced to demonstrate power, speed and beauty all without showing any disregard for human safety. This can be anything including but not limited to:

- Racing

-Speeding

-Car chases

- reckless driving near pedestrians

When evaluating automobile advertising The ASC takes into account the following questions:

"Does the depiction of the performance, power or acceleration of the vehicle convey the impression that it is acceptable to exceed speed limits? Does the depiction of a vehicle’s handling ability involve potentially unsafe actions such as cutting in and out of traffic, excessively aggressive driving, or car chases in a residential setting? Does the depiction appear realistic or does it appear to be unreal, as in a fantasy-like scenario that is unlikely to be copied or emulated in real life?Would it be reasonable to interpret the depicted situation as condoning or encouraging unsafe driving practices?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pM1c482-yg
This Link will take you to a banned Toyota GT86 commercial. The main reason that this ad was banned is because it shows very unsafe driving and illegal behaviour in a setting that resembles a typical modern day central business district. Toyota argued that because the commercial was all computer generated that it gave the feeling of a fantasy universe, however that was not a legitimate excuse because it still closely resembled a normal city.

A Letter to KOOL cigarettes

To: Kool Cigarettes

From: Andrew Salameh

Date: November 1^st, 2013

Subject: Cigarette Targeting to Minors

 

Dear, whom ever it may concern,

I have been researching past advertising for KOOL cigarettes, and I have come to the conclusion that a large amount of the product’s advertising and packaging may be interpreted as targeting minors. Certain changes should be made to avoid any further problems such as this.

Kool Advertisement:

 

I feel that these ads are set to target young women who are interested in the club scene, however may be old enough. In order to better suit these ads to the target, the advertiser must show pictures of models that are older. The use of older models will protect the company from accusations that they are advertising to minors; it will also help the brand associate itself better with the intended target.

 

 

Kool Pruduct shots:

 

Another issue that KOOL cigarettes faces is that their packaging also seems that it is to be target a much younger audience than intended. It is obvious that KOOL cigarettes is meant to be targeted to a younger demographic, however some may argue that they are focusing on tweens and teens with this type of packaging. I personally agree. Some of the characters that are shown dancing on the pack appear to be very young and consumers should not be guessing whether or not people on the packaging are minors. The use of the DJ is trying to further portray the product as “cool”, but these kinds of products should never be endorsed in such a manor. I suggest that KOOL cigarettes change their name to something that does not strongly resonate with minors as something that is positive, because in the end smoking kills. If smoking rate does not start to decrease then over 6,000,000 children under the age of 18 will end up dying because of smoking. We need to stand up and make a difference today so that we can have strong and healthy youth to stand up for us.

 

Sincerely,

Andrew Salameh