PowerPoint Presentation Other Sources

Classic Forms of Regulation

• Truth in advertising: deceptive advertising may be a criminal or civil offense
• ( but intent must be established as well as proof of harm)
• Prohibition or strict regs on Ads for hazardous goods ( drugs, tobacco, liquor etc)
• Policing Ads directed at children
• Ad free zones promoted for very young children, since children cannot distinguish between an ad and a program
• Pre airing censorship: to prohibit violence or other anti social contents
• Other types of ad regulation
• Gender portrayal etc.

The Terms of the Regulation Debate

• What is permitted
• Who is permitted
• When and Where it is permitted
• To whom

Regulation Around the World

• Various levels of constraint around the world
• Sexual violence against women in ads is banned around the world except Argentina, Paraguay and Thailand
• Some categories of products/behaviors are deemed offensive and thereby restricted in certain countries:
• Sanitary products
• Toilet paper
• Undergarments
• Undue attention to breasts or buttocks
• Physical intercourse: hetero or same sex

Canadian Ad Institutions

• The Canadian Advertising Foundation ( CAF)
• Advertising Standards Council
• Receive complaints and preclear ads directed at children

Issues in Advertising

• Recent ad issue concerns:
• Historically, ‘patronage’: control of media content through sponsorship ( Disney)
• Increasingly: ad clutter: more than time allotted ( 18 minutes out of every hour)
• Sound /noise offense
• Product placement: eg. American Idol
• Difficulty in measuring ad impacts
• Catholic Church in BC protesting VanCity ad representing a gay couple ( as part of a resistance to revision of Canadian marital laws to include same sex couples).