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UK-based media agency, the7stars, recently announced it would adopt the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers’ (ISBA) template agency agreement—an arrangement designed to foster a transparent relationship between advertisers and media buying agencies.

Since K2 Intelligence released its report on the U.S. media buying industry in June—a report which detailed non-transparent business practices employed by media

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that Three’s Muppet-themed ad, featuring a character victoriously punching into the air, which claimed that the mobile company was the ‘undisputed’ market leader in terms of network reliability, can no longer be shown in its current form.

In addition to a complaint made by a member of the

Gambling companies Hillside (UK Sports) LP t/a Bet365 (“Bet365“), Coral Interactive (Gibraltar) Ltd (“Coral“) and Petfre (Gibraltar) Ltd (“Totesport”) were recently challenged by the UK advertising regulator, Advertising Standards Authority on using images of Jordan Spieth, US Open champion, on their Twitter feeds to promote betting.

Under the UK non-broadcast advertising industry code (the CAP Code), marketing communications (which include tweets) must be socially responsible; and must not include people aged 25 or under, or someone who appears to be so, if such person plays a “significant role” in promoting gambling and betting. An exception to this rule was introduced in 2013 for instances where an individual under the age of 25 appears in a bet directly or alongside “specific betting selections”. This is allowed so long as the image used shows them “in the context of the bet and not in a gambling context.”Continue Reading Gambling Companies Hit a Triple Bogey

A UK website offering reviews of accounting software that was operated by TheAccountancyPartnership.com Ltd t/a Pandle (“Pandle”) was recently challenged by Crunch Accounting Ltd (“Crunch”) on purported misleading advertising and unfair comparisons with identifiable competitors. Crunch complained to the UK advertising regulator, the Advertising Standards Authority (the “ASA”) (see:

On May 1, 2015, the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) released a set of amended Sales Promotional Rules contained in Section 8 of the CAP Code.  This follows a public consultation aimed at amending a number of rules to bring them up to date with the current consumer protection landscape.  For a list of key

The International Food and Beverage Alliance (IFBA) has delivered an open letter to the World Health Organisation (WHO), voluntarily pledging to cease marketing unhealthy food to children by 2016. The IFBA’s members include some of the world’s largest food and drink companies including PepsiCo, Nestle, Kellogg and Unilever.

The restriction is based upon a set

The ASA has a new strategy for regulating ads, meaning it won’t always wait for complaints before acting against an offending brand. While the ASA has always had the power to take action itself without having to receive complaints, it’s clear that the regulator is now planning on taking a more proactive approach to enforcement.

Once again advertisers triumphed with their creativity in the Super Bowl ads, this year costing them a reported $4million per 30-second spot. We saw Don Cheadle, his llama, and a ping-pong playing Arnie for Bud Light’s “Epic Night”, and speaking of A-list celebrities, how about Bruce Willis hugging it out for Honda? Sodastream avoided 2013’s competitor-targeting

The UK data protection watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), has published its long-awaited guidance on the factors it will take into account when considering whether to initiate enforcement action for data protection breaches and what form any such action should take. Its Data Protection Regulatory Action Policy, comes in the wake of yet another 

Controversy arose again this week over the use of animals in advertising. The British public is famously protective of its furry friends, and the ASA often receives large numbers of complaints over the depiction of animals in ads, especially where there is any suggestion of possible mistreatment. One of the most complained about ads of