Rupert Howell, president of the IPA, has warned the ad industry of potential threats to the advertising of food, alcohol and cars and to advertising to children. Speaking at the IPA President’s New Year Reception last night, Howell told ad agency colleagues and senior clients to keep vigilant as regulatory changes threaten the industry.
“All of our activities depend for their very existence on the freedom to advertise responsibly and without undue restriction, let alone bans. 2001 is the year to be vigilant in relation to whole swathes of the business under potential threat from those who don’t understand fully what we do or how strong are our existing codes and self-regulation.”
In reference to EU plans to ban advertising to children he warned certain sectors to keep on guard. “We’re prepared for threats in areas such as advertising to children and advertising of product sectors such as food, alcohol and cars. We must be robust, because this is a slippery slope,” he said.
He also challenged figures released by ACNielsen last week showing decline in the industry (see UK Adspend Declines For The First Time In 10 Years). “Their figures were wrong. For example, they reported poster expenditure down 30% year on year when it actually enjoyed over 20% growth! Our own findings, published this week in our quarterly Bellwether Report (see IPA’s Bellwether Report Counters Claims Of Advertising Slump), were better than we were expecting, suggesting growth in the advertising marketplace ahead of inflation. It’s wise to be cautious, but the only way we’ll get into a slump is if we talk ourselves into it.”
ACNielsen has been forced to reissue the figures after both the outdoor and cinema sectors disputed their findings (see Outdoor Advertising Association Disputes Industry Decline). A new set of figures is believed to be available in a few days.
Howell set out a programme of work for the IPA for 2001, including a top 20 income league table of ad agencies, a White Paper follow-up and a review of the IPA’s Effectiveness Awards.
Hello. We have downloaded cookies on your device. Some of these cookies are essential for the website to function. Others are non-essential and are used for analytics and advertising.
We need your consent for these types of cookies.
To withdraw your consent or change your cookie choices, please do this through your browser settings.
Otherwise, click OK to accept and continue.
