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Television Regulations

Contents
1.
2.
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6.

THE ASA
OFCOM
BARB
RATES CARDS
ADVERTISER'S INFORMATION PACKS
RESEARCH AGENCY WEBSITES

The ASA
https://www.asa.org.uk/
Who are the ASA?

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ASA stands for the Advertising Standards Authority. They regulate all the advertising in the UK,
from television advertising, to billboard, radio and other forms of media advertising. Their main purpose
is to deal with complaints about advertisements made by the public. The three main reasons for adverts to
be taken down by the ASA is if they are harmful, offensive or misleading. The advertising codes that the
ASA apply were written by the Committees of advertising practice.

Why are the ASA important?

The ASA are important to the UK advertising industry because without them, members of the
public could be offended or harmed by an advert they see on television and have no say in whether is
stays on air or not. Also, companies would be able to be biased about their own products in their
advertisements and they would also be able to falsely advertise, meaning people would be disappointed or
misled by the product and its advert.

OFCOM
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/about/
What is OFCOM?

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OFCOM stands for Office of Communications. They are designed to regulate a wide range of
telecommunication services. These services include television, radio, mobiles, postal services, telecoms,
and other wireless networks channeled by devices.

How is OFCOM important?

OFCOM are important because they ensure the public get the best out of their communication
services, while also being protected from harmful content or materials. They also help to promote
competition between the communication services.
OFCOM set rules in order to make sure advertisements are suited to the public. The rules state that before
each advert is allowed to be aired, they have to checked to makes sure they are not, harmful, offensive,
inaccurate or misleading.
OFCOM also have the power to ban advertisements if they do not fit in with the criteria listed above. A
few examples of advertisements that have been banned by OFCOM are:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSG807d3P-U
This Levi's advert was banned because it was deemed offensive for blind people. This breaks the
OFCOM regulation of being offensive and was therefore taken down. The public claimed that this advert
was promoting the idea that people can take advantage of blind people. Although not everyone agrees,
just one public complaint can deem an advert not suitable for British television by OFCOM or ASA and
be taken down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x0NrGzNqWQ
This reebok advert was also taken down by OFCOM as it was deem misleading to the public.
People are made to believe that just by wearing these trainers, they will receive a toned bum. As this may
not seem obvious at first, members of the UK public did complain and as they did not realize they had to
exercise in these trainers, not just put them on to receive the body image that this advert was displaying.

BARB

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http://www.barb.co.uk/about-us?_s=4
What is BARB?
BARB stands for Broadcasters Audience Research Board. They are a company that specialize in
data collection. They are owned by many different organizations as they collect data from a wide range of
media sectors. Because they are collecting data from a wide number of sources, they are known to have
very accurate results.

Why is BARB important?

BARB is important because they help companies decide when it is the best time for them to
show their advertisement in order to reach the maximum amount of viewers and also viewers
that may relate to their target audience, however BARB do not collect data on who is watching
the channel or program, so therefore they cannot be sure.

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Rates Cards
What are Rates Cards?
A Rate Card is a certain document that contains prices and descriptions of the ad placement
options that are available for a company in order to advertise their product.

An example of a rate card -

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Advertiser's information packs

What are they?
Advertisers information packs are found on Research Agency Websites and are designed to inform
companies looking to advertise with all the necessary information to do so. For example, an advertiser's
information pack includes things like rate cards, publication dates, insersion dates etc.
Examples of Advertiser's information packs Microsoft

http://www.adbrands.net/us/microsoft0us.htm
Nintendo
http://www.adbrands.net/1p/nintendo01p.htm

Research Agency Websites

What are they?
Research Agency Websites are designed to give market research advice and services to clients. The clients
can vary in size from one or two individuals, to a whole company.
Research Agency Websites Examples -

Www.mustard-research.com
www.platypusresearch.com

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