Regulation for Advertising

ASA stands for Advertising Standards Authority which in basic terms means they look at what adverts for television or radio are allowed to be viewed or listen to in case they offend their audiences. The BCAP code which is involved with the UK code of broadcast advertising which would separate BCAP codes for broadcast advertising into four different sections. This code applies to all advertisements such as teleshopping, content on self-promotional television channels, television text and interactive television advertisement.

The advertisement of new products must not under any circumstance look to harm or offend its audiences. There are several ways in which people can be harmed or offend by adverts but not just in a racist or sexual way but also by the loudness of the advert being show. For under 18’s the advertisement must not contain any that could physical, mental, moral or social harm to the viewers of the product. No adverts are allowed to portray or represent a form of bully or sexual content to a child. In my energy drink advert the references to sexual, drug or language is non existent as my advert is about an energy sport drink. On the other hand the reference to drug taking for under 18s could affect my advert as the drink itself contains several ingredients which could harm a child if used in the wrong manor. The ingredients contain electrolytes and nutrients which are commonly found in any other energy drink such as Red Bull or Lucozade.    

For having children feature in an advertisement is allowed but only to a certain extent. The rule set to an under 18 child featuring in an advert is to not mislead or exploit a child’s inexperience, credulity or sense of loyalty. An example of this is by exaggerating the features of a product or services in a way that it could lead to a child having unrealistic expectations of the product or the services. For my advert no children under the age of 18 were used in filming. Also the product being published was not exaggerating to an extent were the character become from a normal sports player to a world cup winner after drinking the product. The product only makes very small improvements to an athlete’s game.

By following these simple rules I have been able to create a safe and not misleading advert to young audiences but also older audiences