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Misleading Advertising
Advertising in the UK is mainly controlled through codes of practice. In the case of advertisements in the non-broadcast media, the Advertising Standards Authority oversees and acts to ensure compliance with the British Code of Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing.
The Code is the body of rules the advertising industry draws up and agrees to abide by. In essence, it requires advertisements to be legal, decent, honest and truthful and to be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and society at large.
The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs) and the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008 (BPRs) provide the legislative back-up to the self-regulatory system in respect of advertisements which mislead or which do not comply with the conditions under which comparisons are permitted in advertisements.
Both sets of Regulations are enforced by the Office of Fair Trading and local authority Trading Standards Services. They require enforcers to have regard to the desirability of encouraging the control of unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices, misleading business-to-business advertising and comparative advertising which is not permitted, by such established means as they consider appropriate. This includes, in particular, the ASA’s self and co-regulatory regimes for controlling misleading advertisements in the broadcast (see below) and non-broadcast media.
TV and Radio Advertising
Broadcast advertising is also subject to codes of practice. The Office of Communications (OFCOM) is the statutory regulator who have powers under the Communications Act 2003 to stop misleading advertising and comparative advertisements which are not permitted. OFCOM has delegated its powers to the ASA who deal with all complaints about such advertising. Government policy in respect of this sector rests with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Financial Promotions
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has a statutory duty to ensure that financial promotions are clear, fair and not misleading. The FSA encourages consumers to send in misleading adverts via their on-line reporting system.