From last Tuesday the Advertising Standards Agency has expanded its focus to marketing messages on company websites and social media platforms. The ASA are now working to ensure that online advertising adheres to the rules defined in the Community of Advertising Practice (CAP) Code.
For the past three weeks the ASA has been raising awareness of this extension in their responsibilities and the fact that their remit now covers online marketing messages, whether explicit on websites or through social media. The purpose of the CAP Code is to ensure marketing communications are honest, decent and legal, much in the way that broadcasted advertising messages are currently regulated.
Claims made by companies on websites must be referenced and backed up by statistical data, although press releases will be excluded as the intended recipients are bloggers and journalists. Interestingly, the rules do not affect natural search results although PPC adverts fall under the regulations of the code. Social media is where the most confusion is arising, as whilst the new remit will not cover user generated content, responses that could be deemed as “marketing communications” may be; even retweeting a positive comment related to a product could fall under the ASA’s powers.
The new powers are a response to the approximate two thousand complaints made each year in relation to website copy and misleading promotions. The ASA will be given certain sanctions which include naming and shaming those that break the rules through the ASA website and the removal of offending content and paid search advertisements. More seriously, those consistently and in breach of the code may be referred to the OFT or have naming and shaming pages presented to users through paid search adverts, although the latter is dependent upon the stance of the search engines.
The ASA are keen to give agencies and companies the opportunity to explore the regulations and sign up to CAP services for further guidance and training; it is hoped that such encouragement will foster the self regulation that is so prevalent within broadcasting.
The complexities of the online domain will certainly make enforcing such regulations interesting. Both agencies and brands will be paying careful attention to the first legal cases in order to better understand the effects they will have upon the online marketing discipline.
