Why ASCI
ORGANISATION : The Board of Governors (16 members) ensures equitable representation of Advertisers, Agencies, Media and other Advertising Services, the individual member firms being leaders in their respective industries or services. The Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) (21 members) has 12 Non-Advertising professionals representing civil society, who are eminent and recognised opinion leaders in their respective disciplines such as Medical, Legal, Industrial Design, Engineering, Chemical Technology, Human Resources and Consumer Interest Groups; 9 are advertising practitioners from our member firms.
The CCC met 12 times from April 2010 to March 2011. It considered complaints against 190 Ads, of which 104 were UPHELD, 80 were NOT UPHELD and 6 were considered as NON-ISSUES.
Implementation of CCC decisions - as a result of prompt and effective follow ups, there have been positive responses received from advertisers and agencies, in respect of CCC recommendations on complaints which were Upheld. There has been a number of instances wherein advertisers/agencies have withdrawn or modified their advertisements appropriately, merely on their being approached by ASCI for comments in respect of complaints received. The acceptance of ASCI’s role in judging complaints against advertisements, in the interest of all Practitioners in Advertising and Consumers who are the targets of such advertisements, is demonstrated by the fact that during the year the advertisers/agencies have not yet informed the Council of their compliance with the CCC decisions, in respect of only 20 complaints.
Analysis of Complaints decided upon by the CCC: Of the complaints against 190 Ads processed, there have been 80 intra-industry complaints received from advertisers and agencies, in respect of misleading comparative advertising and unfair competitive advertisements, of which 50 were Upheld, whilst 29 were Not Upheld and 1 was Non-Issue. The Council has played a fair and supportive role in ensuring that such complaints were dealt with promptly, were treated with the confidence which they deserved, and was instrumental in mediation with advertisers and agencies concerned, thus avoiding time - consuming and costly litigation in many instances.
Quarterly Compilation Reports of CCC decisions to members on consumer and industry complaints against advertisements, provide current background information, which represents valuable case/reference material for proactive Observance of the Code for Self-Regulation, when the creative is on the drawing board and the advertisement is under development
Our Secretary General may be contacted on (022) 23513982 - phone and (022) 23516863 - fax, or e-mail: JLIB_HTML_CLOAKING for
- Clarifications or additional background information if required
- Complaints against advertisements which are considered false, misleading, objectionable or offensive
- Requests for particulars of Membership of ASCI,
A free copy of the ASCI Code for Self-Regulation in Advertising is available on request.