Note: This advice is given by the CAP Executive about non-broadcast advertising. It does not constitute legal advice. It does not bind CAP, CAP advisory panels or the Advertising Standards Authority.
The way in which marketing communications are targeted can have a significant bearing on their acceptability under the CAP Code. Targeting is especially important, of course, when considering matters of taste and decency because the likelihood of an ad causing offence is inextricably linked to the attitudes of the people who see it. In 2000, an ad showing a naked image of Sophie Dahl led to complaints that the ad was offensive. The ASA upheld complaints received about a poster but did not uphold complaints about the same ad when it appeared in women’s glossy magazines, because the ad was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence to the latter’s readers (Yves Saint Laurent Beaute, 10 January 2001).
That principle does not solely apply to ads placed in different media: the differing readerships of different titles could be critical. The ASA considered that a Diesel ad with an image of a naked man, seen from the rear and with three pairs of women’s legs straddling his body, was unlikely to offend readers of Elle Magazine but did breach the Code when placed in the Sunday Times Style Magazine, which the ASA considered was more likely to be seen by children (Diesel (London Ltd), 8 March 2006).
Marketers that have taken care in the targeting of ads that might be considered unsuitable for children will be less likely to breach the Code. In 2006, the ASA received complaints challenging whether an internet banner ad for the ITV4 programme ‘Wanted’ was suitable for viewing by children. Viewers of the ad heard a gun shot and saw a bullet wound appear on a photograph of a man’s head; his eyes closed and blood trickled down his face. The ASA did not uphold the complaints, partly because the images were not considered to be overly gruesome but also because the ASA considered that the ad had been targeted at adults because the advertisers had placed the ads on websites (NME, Independent and Yahoo!) whose users were predominantly men (ITV t/a ITV4, 22 March 2006).
Marketers should be mindful that the unsuitable targeting of ads for certain products is an automatic breach of the Code. For example, no medium with more than 25% of its audience under 18 years of age should be used to advertise an alcoholic drink.
Last modified : 03 August 2010