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Despite the Coronavirus, the ASA is still doing business as usual

Although Britain remains gripped by the coronavirus lockdown, for the UK advertising sector regulator, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), it is business as usual. We highlight a few recent rulings, one on e-cigarettes and two on gender sterotyping/objectification. E-cigarette and vaping ads Following our blog post at the start of the year on the ASA … Continue Reading

False Advertising Dangers Lurk in the Age of COVID-19 – Redux

As we previewed in our earlier post, the COVID-19 pandemic raises new and heightened false advertising concerns for companies seeking to capitalize through mentions of the virus in marketing or consumer outreach efforts. During this harried time, both the unwary – and the well-informed – advertiser should navigate carefully to avoid the trap of consumer … Continue Reading

False Advertising Claims Lurk in the Age of COVID-19

Companies around the world are scrambling to respond to the unprecedented challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.  We have all received many emails and seen a plethora of ads and social media posts by manufacturers, retailers and service providers about steps they are taking to respond to COVID-19 related challenges.  The messaging is vital for … Continue Reading

Ambush Marketing in the Digital Age

With the Olympics and men’s football UEFA European Championships taking place next year, alongside a summer full of music festivals, brands will be keen to ensure that they fully-realise the benefits of their investment in sponsorships. However, not all brands will be gaining exposure through the traditional medium of activating sponsorships with athletes, teams, and … Continue Reading

Spreading The Influence: FTC Issues New Guidance for Influencers

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) continues to focus on influencer advertising, as part of its consumer protection mission.  On November 5, 2019, the FTC released an instructive “Disclosure 101” Guide and “Advice for Social Media Influencers” video to help influencers understand their legal obligations when they are spreading their influence through social media posts, … Continue Reading

Legal Issues to Consider when Planning Prize Promotions

International prize promotions are regularly used by brands to engage with consumers through the use of social media and other platforms.  In a recent publication, team member, Carlton Daniel, discusses the legal issues marketers should be considered when running such promotions. The publication addresses the gambling laws of various jurisdictions and the requirements for prize … Continue Reading

“It’s Unbelievable Jeff” – The ASA Overturn Sky Bet’s ‘Request a Bet’ Ad Ruling

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) recently announced that it has overturned its original ruling published on 13 March 2019 relating to a Sky Bet TV ad promoting their ‘Request a Bet’ service. As reported by Carlton Daniel in this blog and in Law360, the ASA had previously found that the advertisement contravened the advertiser’s duty … Continue Reading

Hungry for change: ASA and Government target junk food ads

With childhood obesity rates in the UK among some of the worst in Europe, the Government has set a national target to halve childhood obesity by 2030. Whilst the Government acknowledges that this is a multi-faceted problem, it has reported that evidence suggests that children’s exposure to advertising of products that are high in fat, … Continue Reading

New advertising guidance introduced to protect under 18s

Over the last year, the Committees of Advertising Practice (the CAP), have taken an increasingly robust view on gambling ads. Last year, it announced tougher standards to be imposed on gambling advertising after its review of gambling advertising revealed that – whilst advertising did not itself play a causal role in problem gambling – claims, … Continue Reading

Adverts must avoid harmful gender stereotypes

In late 2018, the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP and BCAP) announced the introduction of a new rule to deal with the depiction of harmful gender stereotypes in advertising. The new rule will apply to both the broadcast and non-broadcast codes of advertising practice and come into force on 14 June 2019, stating that advertising … Continue Reading

Faux or Fur?

The Committee of Advertising Practice (“CAP”) recently drew attention to a number of misleading “faux fur” claims in relation to certain clothes and accessories in its enforcement notice published on 17 January 2019. The notice records CAP’s concern that consumers have been misled by ads for “faux fur” products, in contravention of Section 3 of the … Continue Reading

Influencing the influencers – ensuring social media is upfront on endorsements

Last year, the Global IP & Technology Law Blog covered the investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) into commercially driven posts on social media, the results of which were published last week. Following the investigation (which considered potential breaches of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008), a number of prominent online … Continue Reading

Not so super? BCAP issues strict new guidance on the use of superimposed text in TV ads

The Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (“BCAP”) has recently issued revised guidance on the use of superimposed text (“supers”) in TV advertising. Advertisers often use supers to help avoid misleading viewers, as supers can convey information (required for legal or regulatory purposes), to qualify claims made in television ads. However, research by the Advertising Standards … Continue Reading

GDPR’s Impact on the CAP Code and How Prize Winners are Announced

Back in May this year, the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP), which authors the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing (the CAP Code), launched a consultation (the Consultation) on changes that may be required to the CAP Code on the issue of administration of prize promotions. This followed the introduction of … Continue Reading

Regulator Investigating Celebrities and Social Media Influencers Who do not Label Commercial Posts

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the UK is launching an investigation into concerns that social media stars and influencers may not be declaring payments or rewards when they endorse goods or services online. UK Consumer law Consumer law, under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, requires that if a blogger is … Continue Reading
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