The Alliance sits down with Mark Lund to discuss
At a recent Health Summit held by The Times, the Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting made the point that it would be his aim to ban the advertising of ‘junk food’ (for this we can assume it covers HFSS products etc), especially to children.
Mark Lund, who as Chair of ASBOF, was a recent Alliance of Independent Agencies In The HotSeat guest, reminds us that he was being told similar claims over 15 years ago and therefore the idea has been a soundbite for both Conservative and Labour Governments.
So why is it that these and other legislative restrictions on marketing and advertising have not come to pass?
Learn more about the conversation here.
Well there are a range of reasons, not least the economic impact such restrictions would have on the economy. In the latest Advertising Association & WARC figures for Q4 2023, it showed advertising spend exceeded £9billion, showing what is not thought to be a total spend of £37 billion for the whole of the year.
However we should not ignore the success of the self regulatory system that the UK has had in place for over 60 years. One might say that the advertising industry marks its own homework, through the Advertsing Standards Association (ASA) whilst also setting its own rules through CAP/BCAP. But it is these very rules and the trust that has been placed in them by the public and the ASA that has played a key part in keeping the legislators at bay and as Mark states very clearly in recognition of this:
“Self regulation of advertising has a licence to operate and we need to make sure we are doing our part and keeping the politicians honest in doing theirs”
Well to Alliance of Independent Agencies it is clear that the teams at ASA, Advertising Association, ASBOF, CAP/BCAP are doing their part and building ever greater trust in advertising and the industry regulating itself.