The wait is finally over… Hot on the heels of yesterday’s launch of product placement onto UK television, today marks another dawn of a new age in UK advertising. As of today, Tuesday 1st March 2011, the regulatory remit of the ASA is extended to cover online non-paid for space and pages under the control of advertisers. This means that the CAP Code for non-broadcast advertising, which previously only applied, in an online context, to advertising in paid-for space, such as pop-ups and banner ads, will now regulate promotional activities on companies’ own websites and on sites such as a brand’s official Facebook page, Twitter feed or YouTube channel.

It remains to be seen how the ASA will manage, if at all, to police its new regime, considering the enormity of this task and the limited funding available. But the controversial new sanctions it has the power to impose on infringing advertisers should not be sniffed at.

Our own Marina Palomba shares her thoughts on this groundbreaking new development in MediaWeek today.

Please see our Ad Guide for further information about how this will affect our industry, or contact a member of the ReACTS team.