Advertising Guidelines

Advertising Guidelines

These are the basic advertising rules and guidelines that we will have to take into careful consideration when advertising for City Cycle Hire.

1. Overview

All marketing and advertising must be:

• an accurate description of the product or service
• legal
• decent
• truthful
• honest
• socially responsible (not encouraging illegal, unsafe or anti-social behaviour)

There are regulations that restrict what advertisers can and can’t do.

As well as the regulations, there are 2 advertising codes of practice that you need to follow to help you advertise legally.

You must describe your product or service accurately.

Requirements for specific products

There are also specific requirements that apply to certain sectors, such as:

• food
• alcohol
• beauty products
• environmentally friendly products
• medicines
• tobacco

For example, you can only claim your drink is ‘low in alcohol’ if it contains between 0.5% and 1.2% alcohol by volume.

Data protection

If you’re gathering, storing or using information about customers or potential customers, you must also protect their data.

2. Regulations that affect advertising

Advertising to consumers

The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations mean you can’t mislead or harass consumers by, for example:

• including false or deceptive messages
• leaving out important information
• using aggressive sales techniques

Read ‘The consumer protection from unfair trading regulations’ for the rules on advertising legally.

Advertising to businesses

Advertising to businesses is covered by the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations. As well as being accurate and honest, you must not make misleading comparisons with competitors, that includes:

• using a competitor’s logo or trademark, or something very similar
• comparing your product with a competitor’s product that’s not the same

3. Advertising codes of practice

There are 2 advertising codes of practice that describe how businesses should advertise.

They cover all kinds of promotional communications, depending where the advert or promotion will appear.

Non-broadcast media

The Committee of Advertising Practice code has rules that cover non-broadcast advertising (eg print, online), sales promotion and direct marketing (eg telesales and email).

The code specifies standards for accuracy and honesty that businesses must stick to, including specific conditions, eg:

• advertising to children
• causing offence
• political advertising

Broadcast media (eg TV, radio)

You must follow broadcast codes that cover issues including taste, decency and product placement.

As well as setting standards about accuracy and honesty businesses must stick to, they also have rules about things like scheduling.

General broadcasting rules

You also need to follow rules about taste, decency, product placement etc that apply to all broadcasting.

These are called ‘broadcast codes’. Find out more about them on the Ofcom website.

Enforcing the rules

The rules are enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

Anyone who thinks advertising rules have been broken can complain to the ASA within 3 months of the advert appearing.

If an advert breaks the rules, it may be withdrawn. If the product doesn’t match the description or the advert breaks the law, you could be prosecuted.

4. Describing your product

You must describe your product accurately. This means if you make a claim about your product, you must be able to prove what you say.

Prices

Your adverts must describe the actual cost accurately, including any ongoing or associated costs (eg subscription fees) and taxes (eg VAT).