Advertising Self-Regulation in a Broader Context

Abstract

As the world braces itself for a unified European marketplace, it is critical that we look at the industries likely to be influenced by, and in turn shape, European integration. The advertising industry and its handling of unification are particularly important given that advertising is the voice of the marketplace and a major communications force, shaping cultural norms and values. In order to ensure the free movement of goods, communications about those goods must also move freely. At this time, however, each European country has its own rules and regulations for advertising. One of the major issues facing European advertising as the European Union (EU) comes together is the regulation of cross-border advertising. In 1991 the European Commission issued a call to action for the European advertising industry and almost immediately the industry began work on a trans-border complaints system. Since then the European Advertising Standards Alliance has worked diligently to iron out issues resulting from international advertising disputes. As this article shows, European regulators must determine how advertising will fit into the larger scheme of European law; who will be responsible for controlling advertising; and whether it should be monitored at the national or pan-European level. Certainly the advertising industry is not the only one struggling to determine which controls can remain at the national level and which should be raised to the European rank. But this analysis of how advertising self-regulation fits into the European legal scheme does provide a useful case study of the hurdles ahead. It will be interesting to watch as Europe works to find the proper balance between free trade and national autonomy to control industries.     

Who is Surfing the Net?

Abstract

Unlike the traditional print and broadcast media, which have long-established advertising measurement standards, Web advertising is still in its infancy and lacks widely accepted standards of measurement. This article looks at the major firms offering Web measurement and auditing services for advertisers. It also discusses recent attempts by several industry groups to devise universally accepted standards. By the millennium it is expected that the Web advertising measurement industry will have grown up and will be delivering the audited numbers that clients and agencies will be demanding.     

Pan-European Advertising: Think Europe—Act Local

Changes in Europe resulting from the unification of EC countries and the accessibility of new Eastern European markets have fundamentally altered the trading environment in which advertising agencies operate. As the advertising industry attempts to get to grips with legislative and media changes, agencies are working hard to create alliances and develop networks which encompass markets in which they did not traditionally have a presence. This article draws on a combination of quantitative and qualitative information collected from secondary sources and extended personal interviews with key agency personnel, advertisers and representatives from the UK's Advertising Association and The Advertising Standards Authority. The objective is to show how the advertising industry and agencies are continuing to gear up to meeting the new demands of the Europeanized market.     

Some Economic Issues and Policy Implications of Studies on the Competitive Effects of Advertising Expenditures

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine some of the litersture in Economics that concerns itself with the economics of advertising and to present some of the public policy implications of the results of these studies.

It is found that it is unlikely that advertising expenditures are subject to increasing returns to scale, thus probably do not lead to an increased concentration of industry for this reason.

A study is presented that deals with competition by advertising expenditures and product differentiation in the U.S. cigarette industry. It is found that advertising expenditures. during the 1956–68 period, were not effective in obtaining sales from competitors, although they may have had the affect of inducing new customers to buy the product. The effect of anti-smoking commercials is examined, and it is found that. although they may have had some effect on cigarette smoking. it is doubtful that they provide the impetus for the decreases in advertising expenditures in this particular industry.     

Advertising and Economic Development

In this article it is argued that West Germany has developed into the largest advertising market with the highest productivity per employee in Western Europe. We observe a continuous increase of net advertising turnover during the 1970s. Some extraordinary characteristics of the German advertising market (such as the structure of the TV advertising market and the printed media industry), which set it into sharp contrast to other European advertising markets, are discussed. Furthermore, we analyse the relationship between advertising and the business cycle movement (procyclical v. anticyclical advertising strategies) and we find that the majority of German business firms still pursue a procyclical advertising strategy although evidence seems to prove that an anticyclical advertising policy adopted during recessions will result in higher market shares and strengthened market positions of advertised brands.     

Cone,Fairfax M. The Blue Streak. Chicago: Crain Communication, 1976

Abstract

This survey, conducted among 17 of the 25 largest advertising agencies, highlights the reduction of entry-level employment opportunities, for college graduates, when 1974 is compared to 1973. The survey also gives indication of the relative popularity various schools enjoy as preparers of future advertising executives. The author closes with an appeal to the advertising industry concerning the need to increase the number of entry-level opportunities.     

Understanding Programmatic Creative: The Role of AI

In this article, we expand the concept of programmatic advertising to include programmatic creative as a vital component. While artificial intelligence (AI) has already automated the media buying process, the advertising creative process still requires extensive human efforts. Such discrepancy calls for AI to transform the advertising creative process. We provide a framework for understanding and investigating programmatic creative by drawing evidence from the advertising industry in China. We specifically discuss how big data and machine learning algorithms underpin programmatic advertising. We argue that AI will integrate programmatic buying and programmatic creative in the future. We also discuss the technological, regulatory, and legal challenges faced by programmatic creative. We argue that new theories and methods are needed to conduct research in this area and provide guidance for the advertising industry.     

Something in Adland doesn’t add up: It’s time to make female creatives count

The increased visibility of gender issues in society has inspired a trend among marketing companies: female empowerment. Marketers are working with clients and developing advertising that advocates equality for female consumers. Yet, despite this trend for femvertising, little progress has been made toward gender equality for the women working inside the creative advertising industry. This article looks at the inequality problem and considers whether it stems from women’s thwarted attempts to establish a leadership identity within the strongly-gendered cultures in which they are subject to established practices. Thirty female creatives from the U.S., U.K., and mainland Europe were interviewed and, based on these findings, I present three overarching themes: vision, voice, and visibility. Together, they represent the challenges women experience in developing a leadership identity but also inspire opportunities for agencies to increase the influence of female creatives. If the advertising industry’s claims to represent society are to be taken seriously, it must move beyond empowering female consumers to also empowering its female creatives.     

Pigott,Stanley. OBM/A Celebration: One Hundred and Twenty-Five Years in Advertising. London: Ogilvy,Benson & Mather Limited, 1975

Abstract

This study reports the results of a survey of advertising managers and editors of weekly and daily newspapers and of selected consumer magazines concerning the issue of feature advertising. Feature advertising is defined as paid advertising space that looks like editorial copy in the form of a short feature article. It was posited that this type of advertising might offer a unique challenge to the process of advertising self-discipline among print media. Ad managers and editors differed on a number of points, but agreed that questions pertaining to feature ads should be addressed through media self-discipline.     

Exploring the Selective Use of Ad Blockers and Testing Banner Appeals to Reduce Ad Blocking

Ad blocker proliferation threatens the revenue streams of many websites and raises fears about the viability of digital advertising as a whole. Although industry initiatives have increasingly aimed to mitigate ad blocking, surprisingly little research addresses the problem. It remains largely unknown which factors drive ad blocking or help unblocking or “whitelisting” of select websites. This article presents an exploratory survey study of 1,634 ad blocker users and uncovers the main factors driving ad blocking and conditions for unblocking select websites. The conditions suggest changes to online advertising in line with current industry initiatives, as well as opportunities for direct appeals to ad blocker users. A field experiment with 294,331 users tests whether banner appeals can reduce ad blocking. The results show that these appeals reduce ad blocking among 1% of the ad blocker users, and among frequent visitors who encounter repeated banner appeals, this percentage increases to 2%. However, repeated banners also lead to fewer website visits of users not conforming to the appeal, which suggests a trade-off between reducing ad blocking among some users and further increasing avoidance behaviors among others.     

Evans,W. A. Advertising Today and Tomorrow. Great Britain: George Allen and Unwin, 1974

Abstract

This study reports on developments in the international advertising agency business during the 1970s. Findings suggest that U.S. agencies remain the dominant force in international advertising in contrast to the declining performance of U.S. industry in other sectors. Specifically, American agencies have found faster growth in their overseas markets leading to continually larger shares of their total billings; there has been a growing concentration in the international business of U.S. agencies and in the industry internationally; and, the international experience of U.S. agencies has led to a growing penetration of foreign markets, to growth in productivity, and to increasing domestic market power. Results of the study indicate however, that U.S. agencies may be facing increasing challenges from non-U.S. agencies in the future; notably from the West European, Japanese, and some developing countries.     

Sackheim,Maxwell. My First 65 Years in Advertising. Blue Ridge Summit,Pennsylvania: Tab Books, 1975

Abstract

Elliott White Springs took over his family's old cotton mills in the early years of the Great Depression. During World War II he decided that the mill would profit more from producing finished cotton textiles and textile products. Immediately following World War II he launched his Springmaid brand of finished textiles with ads that shocked the ad industry in 1948 through 1959. Periodicals reporting his efforts at the time were highly critical of Springs' ads; however, Springs' strategy and ad tactics brought increased sales and brand name awareness for Springmaid.

Springs' ads, and even the criticism they generated, have been neglected by advertising historians. The author believes advertising writers have overlooked a true leader, perhaps a genius at the time, in the development of advertising practice. This article advocates the work of Springs as worthy of inclusion in the literature of the history of noteworthy and successful advertising.     

Advertising Regulations in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

This paper examines the status and outlook of advertising regulations in sub-Saharan Africa. It begins with a synoptic overview of the region's advertising industry, which is used as a backdrop. Advertising regulations pertaining to tobacco, alcohol, pharmaceuticals, children, and politics are examined, and seven regulatory forces (consumer protection; growth of service industry; fairness and vulnerable groups; new media technologies; civil rights and privacy; religion, morality, and taste; and nationalism) likely to stimulate advertising regulations in the region are also presented. The paper concludes with implications and directions for future research.     

Concerns About Advertising Practices in a Developing Country: An Examination of China's New Advertising Regulations

This article examines China's 1993 Interim Regulations on the Advertising Agency System and Interim Advertising Censorship Standards as reflections of a developing country's concerns over advertising practices. Four issues facing a developing country such as China are identified: (1) The influence of foreign advertising practices on the domestic advertising industry; (2) the urge to speed up the learning process of advertising skills and know-how; (3) the threat of advertising to the indigenous culture; and (4) the government's authoritarian role in maintaining order. The new regulations are conceived as the Chinese government's remedies to these issues. The article concludes with a discussion on the enforcement problems and consequences of the regulations on China's advertising industry.     

Televised Consumption: Women,Advertisers and the Early Daytime Television Industry

This article looks at ways in which the US broadcasting and advertising industries conceptualized the female consumer in the immediate Post War period. It explores the emergence of daytime television and discusses broadcasters' views of their predominantly female audience. The article argues that by grasping the underlying principles that were developed in the early daytime television industry, one can gain a better understanding, not only of the manner in which female audience members were addressed in the 1950s, but also, to some extent, of the ways mass media address women today.     

Western Concepts,Russian Perspectives: Meanings of Advertising in the Former Soviet Union

Abstract

Western advertising professionals base their interpretations of advertising in the former Soviet Union on a Western model of advertising and neglect Russian perspectives on advertising. Symbolic interactionism suggests that things have different meanings for different people at different times. The author discusses the influence of Russian culture on advertising in the former Soviet Union and the problem of imposing Western concepts. A month-long research study was conducted in Moscow, Russia in May 1991. Interviews with government officials, business and advertising industry professionals, academicians, and students were audiotaped. Findings suggest that advertising in the former Soviet Union is an interaction between social and economic realities and not just a means of uncovering a new marketplace.     

Government and Advertising

Abstract

The existence of any company that must bridge the gap between production and sales ultimately rests in the hands of the consumer. The quality and quantity of the advertising surrounding a product can gain a stay of execution; but ultimately the public alone, through ignorance of a product's existence, indifference, or dislike, decides that a product is going to die.

American industry for the past five years has been under continuous attack. That attack has come in many forms. Some of this outcry against advertising is simply an extension of the on-going attack on American industry. The attackers thrive on visible targets, and in this case, national advertising. Stripped of all the excess verbiage, what is really being attacked is not advertising itself but the business function of selling its products.

We don't need a bureaucratic screen to keep buyer and seller apart.     

Divita,S. F. ed. Advertising and the Public Interest. America Marketing Association, 1974

Abstract

Advocacy advertising has become an often-used means for corporations to express their viewpoints on a variety of controversial issues. Recent events make it unclear whether advocacy advertising may be viewed as political (editorial) speech and, therefore, outside the regulatory controls of the Federal Trade Commission. This article discusses the current state of advocacy advertising by reviewing the criteria proposed (and/or used) by the courts, regulatory agencies, and advertising/marketing scholars in determining the regulatory boundaries of this form of advertising. In addition, the article proposes additional criteria that may be helpful in making such a determination.     

Ethical limits to the intrusiveness of online advertising formats: A critical review of Better Ads Standards

ABSTRACT

This article argues that advertising ethics, traditionally focused on ad contents and vulnerable audiences, should be also applied to ad format intrusiveness. The increasing appearance of highly intrusive advertising formats resulted in an extraordinarily growth of ad blocking systems. To fight the economic costs of the ad blocker phenomenon, the most relevant agents of the industry have created a never seen Coalition for Better Ads including marketers, publishers, and agencies worldwide. This article analyses the experiments carried out by the Coalition to create Better Ads Standards establishing the limits of ad format intrusiveness to be implemented worldwide by means of self-regulation. Based on classical and current approaches to advertising ethics, this work explains that highly annoying ads should not only be banned for practical reasons but for overpassing ethical limits in terms of respect for the persuadee, equity of the persuasive appeal, and social responsibility for the common good. A basic exploratory replication study is presented to simulate further research on the ethical limits of intrusive advertising. Establishing which ad formats are allowed to continue and which ones should gradually disappear is such a relevant process for many stakeholders that it requires further discussion by consumers and scholars.     

Young People's Attitudes Towards British Political Advertising: Nurturing or Impeding Voter Engagement?

SUMMARY

This article presents findings from a national survey of ‘potential’ first time voters at the 2001 British General Election–specifically their attitudes towards the print advertising used by the main political parties during this election. In analysing the data, the authors were particularly interested in examining the claim that political advertising contributes to a sense of malaise–most acutely apparent among young people. While we found high levels of claimed advertising awareness, this was coupled with largely unfavourable attitudes towards most of the print advertising used in the election. Despite these judgements, most young people considered the advertising to be at least as persuasive as its commercial cousins. Not surprisingly the evidence provides a mixed picture in terms of the role political advertising plays in the political dispositions of young people. As a familiar discourse advertising offers the political classes an entry point to establish a dialogue with young sections of the electorate. However, for many young people, political advertising appears to help reinforce their predilection about politics being something one naturally distrusts.