Election 2015: What's the best outcome for UK advertising after 7 May?
It’s a shame, if not at all surprising, that it takes a general election to ignite some interest in advertising’s political reputation beyond my usual audience of policy-bods, but I’ll take it.
Sue Eustace
By now we all know, and are increasingly sick of hearing, that the pollsters and the bookies have it down as ‘too close to call’, and regardless of whether it’s Labour or the Tories that win the most seats, a majority government is almost certainly out of the question.
The Advertising Association public affairs team has been up to its eyes in manifestos, white papers and policy strategies to sort through what the various outcomes might mean for media, marketing and advertising. And you can see why adland’s vote might be as split as the public’s.
Conservatives
While leading the last government, the Tories have been at the forefront of political support for the UK’s creative industries, establishing the Creative Industries Council, and recognising the growth and employment potential across the creative economy, but there’s little detail in their manifesto to catch advertising’s eye.
Commitments on public health are vague, and after the parsimonious closure of the COI, many are still uncertain whether they really ‘get’ advertising’s potential. For global businesses, uncertainty over EU membership could be done without.
Labour
Current favourites to lead a government from May, Labour may be best known in advertising policy circles for regular criticisms of self-regulation around food, gambling and other sectors. However, culture spokesman Chris Bryant spoke up for the ASA at LEAD in January, and many in advertising have much in common with Ed Miliband’s vision of responsible capitalism.
While plans to restrict marketing of food to children are still vague and uncertain, Labour are also big supporters of Britain’s creative industries and world-beating digital economy, and are prioritising apprenticeships to the creative world; very helpful to an advertising sector set to add at least 70,000 jobs over the lifetime of the next Parliament. And on Europe, at least they’re a known quantity.
Liberal Democrats
The Coalition partners have been big backers of the Creative Industries Council, but a very illiberal call for a 9pm watershed for HFSS advertising was our biggest shock of manifesto season: a policy that would be hugely damaging for broadcasters and beyond and with no evidence that it would improve the nation’s health.
Advertising has worked well with the Lib Dems' equalities minister Jo Swinson in particular, in recent years, on issues like body image and gender, and their support for promoting positive body image in schools could be an opportunity for the newly revamped advertising literacy program Media Smart.
The rest of the field
Surprisingly there was nothing from the SNP in the manifesto, but they’ve long been on record calling for a 9pm watershed and other restrictions for food and alcohol advertising. A Labour/SNP deal is near the top of advertising’s risk register.
Plaid Cymru and the Greens have advertising restrictions in mind on e-cigarettes and to children respectively, but there’s little from UKIP, assuming you don’t do business with the continent…
So what’s the best possible outcome for advertising? Maybe the Grandest of Coalitions. Conservative recognition and support for advertising self-regulation; Labour’s vision for responsible business and a diverse talent base; and the Liberal Democrats’ knack for working with advertising on the tricky societal issues.
Sue Eustace is director of public affairs at the Advertising Association