Last year the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) announced that the CAP Code, which governs advertising content in non-broadcast media such as online, posters and the press, will apply in full to all marketing communications online from 1 March 2011.  The code will apply to website content and social media such as Twitter and Facebook from that date. The CAP code is intended to ensure that advertisements do not mislead, harm or offend and that they are socially responsible. They also contain specific rules for certain products or markets such as alcoholic drinks, gambling and health products and products aimed at children.

The new remit will specifically apply to:

• advertisers’ own marketing communications on their own websites;
• marketing communications in other non-paid-for space under their control, such as social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

But journalistic and editorial content and material related to causes and ideas - except those that are direct solicitations of donations for fund-raising - are excluded.

Sanctions

In addition to the ASA’s present sanctions, which achieve a high level of compliance, CAP member bodies have agreed new sanctions to apply to the extended remit such as:

• the removal of paid-for search advertising – ads that link to the page hosting the non-compliant marketing communication may be removed with the agreement of the search engines;
• ASA paid-for search advertisements - the ASA could place advertisements online highlighting an advertiser’s continued non-compliance.

Implementation

The extension to the ASA’s remit demonstrates the growing use of social networking and other sites as a means to promote a business’s products and services.

The CAP Code is aimed at promoting fairness in advertising, both from the consumer’s point of view and from the view of other businesses promoting similar products or services. With the Code now being extended to online content, businesses would be advised to check that their website content and other online marketing content complies with the CAP Code principles. You can read more about this on the ASA website.  The ASA is also encouraging website owners to sign up to CAP Services to receive guidance and training to help ensure their online content complies with the new rules before 1 March 2011.

For more information on this please contact Nicky Androsov.