Here’s a fairly lengthy article that I’ve written for Sift Media’s MyCustomer.com on the new ASA regulations and what it means for online PR and marketing.
The changes are intended to plug the regulatory grey area between a company’s efforts to proactively promote its products or services via editorial and paid-for advertising.
I’ve made a bid to explain what the new ASA remit means and how it will impact anyone that works in digital marketing and communications.
PR practitioners, myself included, have been critical during the six-month consultation process leading up to the extension of the CAP Code of what they believe to be the advertising industry regulator attempting to extend its reach beyond advertising into other disciplines.
Ultimately it’s hard to argue with a requirement that seeks to protect consumers and calls on brand to be “legal, decent and honest”. But only time will tell how the extension to the ASA’s remit work as its new role beds down as it begins to adjudicate on consumer complaints.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Catherine Pryce, Jon Bawden and 1000heads, Speed Communications. Speed Communications said: Is your online PR and marketing ready for the new ASA regulations? http://goo.gl/fb/F7GiX (@wadds) #pr #socialmedia [...]
There is another view.
The online community has immense power. Much more than the ASA. The trouble is that we are shy in using it.
The industry is far far too reluctant to help the grit in the oyster when people tell lies.
I am getting very tired of the institutional view of everything. ‘Legal, decent and honest’ is just typical of the ad industry. It sounds great and means nothing.
Why should it be so impossible to complain to ASA and CIPR online, real time, by mobile in public. People have an inherent concept of legal, decent and honest and each has a different interpretation. So lets let it all hang out and in the process make life very hard for the brands at the centre of the storm.
We can argue about how this has been implemented but an effort to protect the consumer online can only be a good thing. The industry is growing up. Ultimately only time will tell if this is workable or not – and in the meantime I believe that consumers will continue to out the worst cases of abuse in social media by brands.
Check out my blog post on this new regulation with real life examples – http://www.enginecreative.co.uk/blog/clamping-down-on-false-online-claims.html
Hi Lizzie – Thanks for sharing your post. Much appreciated
Hi Steve,
I have read your blog entries and think that they are really insightful! I was wondering if you allow contributions to your blog at all? I really want to contribute a blog entry on the PR job market and offer tips and advice for PR and Marketing graduates attempting to apply for a position.
If you are interested at all, please contact me via email. I look forward to hearing from you!
Kind Regards,
Sarah