Legal and Ethical issues:
When creating any type of product (advertising), you have to consider the legal and ethical issues. When advertising in the UK you have a range of different laws that need to be met in order for it to be shown anywhere in the UK and for it to be a success.
When I am producing my advertisements, I have a legal responsibility which means that I need to make sure all the advertising is:
- An accurate description of the product and service
- Legal - The advert reaches all the criteria of all the laws and rules which I've considered.
- Decent - I've made sure that the advert is decent and worthy to be shown on the television.
- Honest/Truthful - When producing product, I made sure that I had all the facts about my product with no misleading information. I've also reviewed the honest opinions about the product about it being tasty and spreads happiness; I've involved in into my advert.
- Socially responsible - I've ensured that my advert is responsible and fits the target audience. Doesn't include any harmful actions or anything illegal.
Another law that needs to be considered is The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. Within this law i shouldn't:
- Include false or deceptive messages
- Leaving out important information
- Using aggressive sales techniques
Also, there is specific requirements for specific products:
- Food
- Alcohol
- Beauty products
- Environmentally friendly products
- Medicines
- Tobacoo
The one I'll be doing for my advertisement is food since I'm doing my advert about Dairy Milk Caramel. Produces must be careful since specific products has their own requirements they have to follow.
There are different advertising codes and practices:
- The committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) - covers all non-broadcast advertisement. For an example, print and online.
- The broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) - covers all broadcast media advertisement. For an example TV and radio.
Violence/offensive language/behaviour/material/ Public interest/ slander/libel | In this advert is if there are any slander. You can’t lie about a person or impersonate a person. | When the characters in my advert are viewing the chocolate/tasting it I must make sure it doesn't have any form of violence. This will ensure it’ll follow ASA Guidelines. | To manage this I’ll work with my cast and make sure they’ll use an appropriate expression that is realistic. This will ensure that when watching my advertisement the audience would gain a satisfaction when watching the advert since it’ll still be in the guidelines of ASA with manners. |
Ethical 2 Violence/offensive language/ behaviour/ in this advert is if there any material/public interest/slander/libel | When watching the advert younger audience may watch the advert and find many scenes to influence their behaviour in a bad way. The advertisement may include bad behaviour. | My company may be put under legal issues due to an impact of the younger audience may imitate bad behaviour. | When managing this I'll make sure that my work doesn’t include content that the younger audience may get bad behaviour from. |
Legal 1 Violence/offensive language/ in this advert is if there is any material/public interest/slander/libel | One legal issue is that in some areas I need permission to film. I’ll need to ask for permission at certain locations due to their policy. | This will have an impact since I am filming in a class room which means I’ll need to ask for permission to use it. | I’ll manage this by asking permission from my media teacher to use the classroom whenever it is free. If I'm unable to use that specific class room I have a backup classroom in the music department. |
Legal 2 Copyright/intellectual property rights/performance rights/ permission to film/royalties | Another legal issue I need to consider is using copyright free music or asking someone for copyright permission to use their music. | This will impact my advert due to me needing music/sound effects so that my audience is engaged with my advert. Music makes my advert more interesting and memorable so that they can come back to it. | I’ll manage this by either creating my own music since I can create music (I am a music tech student) or I will go on Youtube and find copyright free music and sound effects. |
Regulation 1 ASA Guidelines | The ASA guidelines state that I cannot promote excessive eating in our advert for our product. | When including excessive eating in my advertisement due to that having a negative influence on the public and my target audience. This would violate the ASA guidelines. | When filming I will speak to my actors and make sure they’ll take only a few small bites of the product so that this avoids any negative impact of excessive eating and is not promoting it. |
Regulation 2 ASA Guidelines | The ASA guidelines state that I cannot involve anything that will reflect violence in my advertisement. | This product is a mainstream product (chocolate bar) which would have all age groups. Including the younger and older population. This is critical to not include any violent elements since it may have influenced the audience. | To manage this I’ll go on the ASA Guidelines website and view the regulation rules and codes. When following these guidelines it’ll ensure that no violent content is present in my advertisement. |
Here is a summary of how I considered the legal and ethical issues: