The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is a UK regulator that regulates advertising in the UK in all media platforms. The ASA are in charge of my product as I am advertising Cambridge. I have to make sure that my promotional video complies to all of ASA’s standards and that I don’t break any of ASA’s rulings. Rulings The first rulings I looked at was about the Channel Four documentary, Big Fat Gypsy Weddings and the billboard they had up that said “BIGGER. FATTER. GYPSIER”.
These adverts received 7 complaints along with complaints from The Irish Traveller Movement in Britain (ITMB). The issues with these adverts were “offensive because they believed they were racist, offensive and portrayed Gypsies and Travellers in a negatively stereotypical way”. Another issue with the billboards and posters was that they were showing younger people within the Gypsy community and these adverts could cause other young gypsies to receive physical, mental or moral harm because of these stereotypical pictures. One of the adverts with the young women in low-cut bra tops was argued that one of the girls were under 16 so the people challenged whether the ad was “irresponsible and harmful” because they believed it depicted the child in a sexual way. The first advert of the boy in a close-up shot was upheld and was deemed as a negative display because the gypsy community said that the boy looks angry making people believe that all gypsies are angry. The other advert that was banned was the ad of the two young girls wearing low-cut bra tops this was deemed offensive as they were wearing objectifying clothes and plentiful makeup. These adverts are similar to mine because they are both billboards and posters. After researching these rulings I will make sure to not portray anyone or group of people in a negative light as this behaviour could get me into trouble and also it goes against the regulations of ASA.
The codes above might apply to my billboard and poster because my because I am trying to get people to come to Cambridge and children may come to Cambridge and end up in a dangerous place or situation. To prevent this from happening my billboard and poster will only include shots of Cambridge’s more popular and safe sights to encourage people to go to those specific places. The other code applies to my billboard and my poster because the pan that I am think of taking might involve people working by but and some of these people may include children and cyclists. To avoid this I will take a shot when it is clear of cyclists and pedestrians and children to avoid breaking any codes.
This code applies to my billboard and poster because I am trying to get people of all different races to come to Cambridge by using their language. I could avoid this by making sure nit to accidentally write something in their language that could be wrong, insulting or even racist.