A strategy for responsible advertising? ASA chief Guy Parker explains the watchdog's new approach
At the ASA, we’re asking some searching questions about what we do and how we do it.
Our five year strategy, Having More Impact; Being More Proactive - launched publicly a couple of weeks ago - sets out our purpose, our ambition and the five strands of our strategy. We exist to make ads responsible. Our ambition is to make every UK ad a responsible ad.
The five strands of our strategy are Understanding, Support, Impact, Proactive and Awareness. We’re now working on delivering. But what does this all mean in practice?
It means a step change in the way we work. Broadening our intelligence-base further, so we can – with greater confidence - point to the problems that matter most, and to most people.
Prioritising better, so we’re spending more of our time tackling those problems. Being an authority on advertising and issues that cause societal concern. Providing every business with access to the advice and training support it needs. And making sure people know who we are, so they can come to us when they need us and have confidence in the work we do.
That will, of course, affect our stakeholders, particularly advertisers. But they needn’t be alarmed. Our strategy isn’t about being a burden on business. We’re passionate about what we do, but we’re just as passionate about the industry we regulate.
We think responsible ads are good. Good for people, good for society and, of course, good for business. They give us value and choice. They fund the media, sport and culture we all enjoy. They can be a force for social good, encouraging us to put our seatbelts on. And they help power the economy.
Yes, if an ad misleads, offends or harms we act. But so we should. By making ads responsible, we protect people and help them feel more confident in the ads they see and hear. And by making sure advertisers play by the same rules, we create an environment in which responsible ads can flourish.
Amongst the myriad questions we’ve been asking ourselves is should we have spent many months investigating (and then re-investigating as part of an Independent Review) the complaints of Celtic fans that the new Rangers Football Club shouldn’t have been allowed to claim to be Scotland’s most successful football club? I say no. We’d have got further towards our ambition of making every UK ad a responsible ad had we spent that time on other work.
Juxtapose that example with the recent important work we’ve undertaken to help tackle copycat websites. Lots of people have been left heavily out of pocket by the dodgy practice - I won’t dignify it by calling it a business plan – of pretending in search ads and on webpages to be the official government service providing driving licence renewals, passport renewals and tax returns, and then charging a big fee.
We’ve published key rulings. We’ve tackled sites. But most importantly, we’ve worked in a joined up way with Trading Standards, Government Digital Services and search engines to snuff out that practice. There’s more to do, but we’re making a difference.
Similarly, we’ve taken action to clamp down on hidden charges, whether for theatre tickets or renting a property. We’ve all fallen prey to anchoring on the first price, investing our time and then not pulling out when we (finally) see the hidden charge. It’s not fair, it costs us and so we’re tackling it.
We’ve been clear in our strategy that where the rules have been broken, we’ll always do something. But that doesn’t mean each case should be given equal weighting or the answer to every problem is to open a new investigation. We’ll spend less time tackling ads that cause little detriment to people. We’ll conduct more research, spend more time analysing complaints trends and deal with more problems on a sector or issue basis, or in other innovative ways.
Work is already well underway developing our capability to identify issues that matter most and require priority intervention. We’ll shortly be consulting on our Prioritisation Principles, setting the framework for when and how we act. We’re working hard to increase, improve and better target our advice and training services: expect to see our first e-Learning module soon. And we’ll shortly launch our new ad campaign, raising our profile further.
We’re starting from a good place but, with all the changes around us, we feel – like many – that what’s worked for us in the past won’t necessarily work for us in the future. This is the ASA thinking boldly, acting decisively and changing quickly so we can have more impact and be more proactive. This is a strategy that’s in the interest of everyone who’s responsible.