The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) regulates advertising across all UK media, investigating misleading and offensive ads. Ofcom regulates broadcasting and telecommunications to protect viewers and consumers. Both organizations operate under the Communications Act 2003. The BCAP advertising codes establish rules around advertising content like preventing ads from encouraging irresponsible drinking. Recent ads ruled against by the ASA for breaching these codes include a Jane Plan diet ad that made unauthorized health claims and referenced weight loss amounts.

1. Regulation

2. Who are the ASA and what do they do?
• ”The Advertising Standards Authority is the UK’s
independent regulator of advertising across all
media.”
• They listen to complaints and act on them as soon as
possible, taking action on misleading and offensive
ads.

3. Why are they important?
• ASA are important because they work to try and keep
viewings safe for everyone by censoring explicit content, also
by keeping misleading and harmful advertisements away.
• When commercial TV started broadcasting in 1955, the
advertisements were controlled by legislation. This was the
first time that advertisements – and the claims they made -
were subject to any form of formal regulation. When
commercial radio was launched in 1973, they too were
subject to statutory control.

4. Why do you think advertising needs to be
regulated?
• I think advertising needs to be regulated because
children are susceptible to seeing things like foul
language, racism ect. If things in the media aren’t
checked regularly it doesn't just effect children, it
effects people from different cultures and
backgrounds.
• However I think that after the watershed things
should be less strict as many people like to watch
things that are a lot more graphic.

5. Who are Ofcom and what do they do?
• Ofcom are communication regulators, they monitor
things like what go on the TV, radio,
• They can only regulate things after they’ve been on
TV and this is the same for the ASA.
• Protecting under 18’s - for example from offensive
language, sexual material and violence through
appropriate scheduling, including the watershed on
TV;
• crime: ensuring that programmes do not incite crime
or reward criminality

6. Why are Ofcom important?
• Ofcom are important because they regulate majority of things that
are seen or heard by people. I think we need Ofcom because they
help keep media as safe as possible, although the downfall is that
they only check things if they have complaints.
• ‘An important part of Ofcom's work is to ensure that
consumers receive value for money from their
communications services. Encouraging and promoting
consumer participation in communications markets is also
one of our key priorities.’
• ‘To fulfil these responsibilities, Ofcom has focused on securing
the availability of a wide range of communications services,
while carrying out work to understand the reasons why some
citizens do not use them, or have difficulty doing so.’

7. How are they funded?
• Ofcom are funded by government grants,
communication and broadcasting networks.
• What act do they operate under?
They act under the communications act (2003)

8. What is the difference between Ofcom and the ASA?
• ASA apply advertising codes, proactively check media, and act
on complaints.
• Ofcom protects people from scams
‘people who watch television and listen to the radio are
protected from harmful or offensive material;
people are protected from being treated unfairly in television
and radio programmes, and from having their privacy invaded’

9. What are the BCAP codes?
• BCAP codes are basically the rules ASA have to follow. For
example advertising alcohol should be aimed at people of the
age of 18+ because it should not encourage irresponsible anti-
social drinking.
• ‘The Code is enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority,
who can take steps to remove or have amended any ads that
breach these rules.’

10. How are they used?
• They are used to stop adverts that contain misleading
information and make sure that they don’t get shown again.
• 03 Misleading advertising - The ASA may take the Consumer
Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 into account
when it rules on complaints about advertisements that are
alleged to be misleading.

11. What recent adverts have had ‘rulings’ from the ASA
and what BCAP codes have they breached?
• The complainant challenged whether:
The claim “Jane Plan is one of the UK's leading diets, that delivers to your door” was misleading
and could be substantiated;
The claim “lose weight the easy way”, was an authorized health claim on the EU Register of
Nutrition and Health Claims made on Foods
The claim “The thing that really makes Jane Plan successful is that it works”, was an authorized
health claim on the EU Register; and
The ad breached the Code because it contained health claims that referred to a rate or amount
of weight loss.
• The ASA noted that the claim could be interpreted in one of two ways. First, that Jane Plan
was one of the UK's leading diets and it delivered food to a customer's door. Secondly, that
Jane Plan was one of the UK's leading diet delivery services. they considered that the claim
was ambiguous and viewers could interpret it either way.
• They said that ‘The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Jane Plan Ltd to
ensure in future they could substantiate comparative claims. We also told them not to make
unauthorized health claims or refer to rates or amounts of weight loss in relation to food.’