In part one of this post, I talk about American television commercials, and how I’m not particularly crazy about them. Sometimes they can be funny, irreverent, dramatic, cute, or artful, but for the most part, I just tune them out because they’re so bad.
So, how could you make advertising even worse?
Well, the British have decided to find out.
Their Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which has long regulated commercials and other advertising in Britain, has added more regulation that ever, banning the use of advertising that they feel is politically incorrect. No longer can media portray anything that anyone would find offensive. In fact they have banned “harmful gender stereotypes.” For example, according to the ASA, boys should not be portrayed as “daring” while girls are portrayed as “caring.” Another example of advertising that would be banned is the portrayal of ” a woman’s inability to park a car.” The basic rule is that if anyone might find it offensive, it’s banned:
“CAP Code rule 4.1 states that marketing communications must not contain anything that is likely to cause serious or widespread offence. And particular care must be taken to avoid causing offence on the grounds of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or age. Code rule 4.9 states that ads ‘must not include gender stereotypes that are likely to cause harm, or serious or widespread offence’.”
Not only does the ASA ban advertising it finds inappropriate, it also actively looks for infringements:
“We don’t just wait to receive complaints – we proactively monitor ads across different sectors and media to make sure standards are being maintained.”
So there you have it, the British have created what I call “the Advertising Police.”
I think most people would agree that advertisers don’t purposely offend people. After all, they’re trying to sell products, not alienate potential customers. Which is exactly why the creative community who create advertisements don’t need all these restrictions. If they create advertisements that offend, people don’t buy. Remember the Gillette commercial about toxic masculinity? I don’t buy Gillette razors anymore.
You don’t need an agency to create a massive set of regulations. Regulation will certainly put a damper on creativity.
As bad as commercials can be here in the U.S., I’m willing to bet that they’re far worse in the UK.
— Mr. Evil