Corporate tweeting could fall foul of regulator
Jinfo Blog

10th March 2010

By Tim Buckley Owen

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Two thirds of the complaints that the Advertising Standards Authority receives about online marketing activity are currently outside its remit because they relate to statements made on companies’ own websites. Now the United Kingdom’s self-regulated advertising industry intends to plug that gap with a proposal to extend regulation from paid-for marketing communications on the web to advertisers’ own sites. Byzantine scarcely begins to describe the structure of the UK’s advertising regulatory régime. In this instance the proposal came from the Advertising Association, which promotes and protects advertising in the UK, representing all sides of the advertising and promotional industry. The Association submitted its proposal to the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP), which is responsible for drawing up the industry’s non-broadcasting codes of practice. The Committee is administered by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which regulates advertising across the UK and is independent both of the industry and government. Welcoming the proposal, the ASA and CAP described it as a ‘direct and sensible response to people’s concerns about the protection of consumers and children online’ (http://digbig.com/5bbfgn or http://digbig.com/5bbfgp – registration may be required to visit these pages). But it may also reflect continuing official pressure on the industry – most recently in the form of an independent Home Office review on the sexualisation of young people through activities such as ‘irresponsible marketing’ (http://digbig.com/5bbfgr). Not only will corporate web sites be caught by the new regime, but so too will brand activity on social networking sites, the Advertising Association says (http://digbig.com/5bbfgs). So a company could potentially bring the wrath of consumers, unwelcome publicity and industry sanctions down upon itself on the basis of an off-the-cuff comment on its Facebook page or a single incautious tweet. The CAP is currently discussing the implications and practicalities with the appropriate stakeholders, with the aim of bringing the new remit into effect as soon as possible. It will be something else for compliance specialists and due diligence researchers to look out for – but may also reinforce a warning at last December’s London Online show that the people in an organisation who are really good at engaging with social media may not be the ones with the marketing and public relations experience to deal effectively with the outcomes (http://www.vivavip.com/go/e27391).

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