Task 4 Assignment 1

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/
http://www.asa.org.uk/
Ofcom and ASA are both regulators.

Ofcom is a communications regulator i.e TV programs, radios, post

The ASA are a advertising regulator and covers;

• Magazine and newspaper advertisements 
• Radio and TV commercials (not programmes or programme sponsorship) 
• Television Shopping Channels 
• Commercial e-mail and SMS text message ads
• Posters on legitimate poster sites (not fly posters)
• Leaflets and brochures 
• Cinema commercials 
• 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 ROM's, DVD and video, and faxes
• Sales promotions, such as special offers, prize draws and competitions wherever they appear.

• 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 

When The ASA receive complaints they

1.  Will give you the name of the person who will handle the case and be your point of contact.
2.  keep the complainant's name confidential, unless they are asking the ASA 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).
3.  will resolve the complaint quickly such as adverts amended or get taken off mailing lists. If it’s not that simple, they may need to conduct a formal investigation, which can take longer.
4.  A formal investigation means the ASA Council will rule on the matter. They contact all parties involved (complainant, advertiser and, if appropriate, the broadcaster) and inform them of the process. They 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.
5.  The ASA then consider all the information they receive and place the facts of the case before the ASA Council which decides whether the Advertising Codes have been breached.
6.  they then publish there rulings in full every Wednesday and make the findings available to the media.
7.  Ads that break the rules are required to be amended or withdrawn, if they aren't  the ASA will take steps to make sure our ruling is followed.
8.  They 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.

Here are the list of some of the codes enforced and provided by the ASA for TV advertising

The ASA provides large amounts of in depth knowledge in the codes to broadcasting advertising 

In February 2012, the ASA ruled that the local Northampton furniture store Sofa King could not use a tagline stating that their prices were "Sofa King low" because it would be considered "likely to cause serious and widespread offense", due to its use of a pun based on a profanity. Sofa King's owner disputed these claims, saying that he had run print advertisements in a local newspaper containing the offending slogan for 10 years without any complaints, and compared the situation to fcuk being banned from using their name in such a fashion.