New Labour and Advertising
by Lionel Stanbrook, Deputy Director-General, UK Advertising Association
For some, the ‘New Labour’ government is a good expression of successful brand building. The process even used commercial terminology. Adding the word ‘new’ before the name of the product is a particularly old marketing trick – and it worked – but the claim still has to be justified. There is already plenty of evidence that satisfactory justification is being supplied in good measure. ‘New Labour’ looks like it is going to be a very successful brand.
The UK Advertising Association was among the first trade bodies into the DTI office of the new Consumer Affairs Minister shortly after the General Election. The speed with which the meeting was arranged seemed to justify the Advertising Association’s decision some years ago to concentrate heavily on its relationship with the Labour Party.
What then does the Government hold in store for the advertising business in the UK? What effect will it have in Europe? The key issue is – as it should be – the performance of advertising self-regulation. The new Government is looking to the advertising business to build on its own good record in advertising standards, to apply these standards to the rest of the EU, and to assist in the extension of the principle to other areas of commercial communications. We are delighted to endorse this approach, for it is also the mandate of the UK Advertising Association. But unsuccessful, ineffective or meaningless self-regulation is very unlikely to be tolerated. The industry must be warned that lip service will not do.
It is true that some sectors of the advertising business will suffer from Government policy. A tobacco ad ban is now very likely indeed. But it is also likely that the ban could be narrowly drawn – and might yet even be reduced in scope by industry self-regulatory limitation. There is evidence that European political pressure is building up fast on the Government to adopt the EU tobacco advertising proposals post haste. The Government will resist this temptation and should continue at its own pace, consulting early and often as it has promised to do. The Advertising Association has already revealed statistics acquired from our colleagues in France on tobacco consumption which show that the ad ban in force since 1991 has not reduced consumption among the younger age groups and might even have had the opposite effect.
The UK Government will certainly not now be persuaded to reverse its position on the tobacco ad ban. It is, incidentally, particularly unlikely that it will suddenly accept the ‘freedom to advertise’ argument as a convincing or appropriate one.
On alcohol advertising, the introduction of so-called ‘Alco-Pops’ to a market that has been portrayed as consisting largely of under-age drinkers has not helped the industry to derive its well-deserved dividend from the long years of responsible compliance and effective self-regulation. While the problem is less one of advertising compliance than of marketing responsibility, some Government ministers remain hostile to the alcohol industry and to its advertising. This is ironic, as the recent introduction of spirits advertising on British TV in late 1995 evoked virtually no protest at the time and practically no complaints since.
One particular industry concern is that some European governments, backed by self-appointed lobby groups, are intending to restrict or ban TV advertising to children. In Sweden, for example, the Government seems less concerned about children being exposed to images of explicit pornography than about their exposure to commercial communication. Consequently TV advertising targeted at children is banned but hard core porn apparently is not.
This inconsistency also affects the UK, where misguided concerns about diet and public health might dictate a restrictive agenda for advertising to children. The recent proposal for a Food and Health Commission with added political commitment may prove to be the first step along this primrose path.
Whatever the future brings, the Advertising Association will continue to do what many believe it does best: providing the means, materials and opportunities for its members to protect and promote the role, responsibilities and rights of advertising in the UK and influence the debates and decisions in the EU.
The views expressed in this editorial are those of the UK Advertising Association.