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1. In July 2004, Ofcom consulted on proposals to revise Section 11.8 of the Advertising Standards Code for television advertising. (Rule 11.8.1 applies to all advertising; 11.8.2 contains additional rules which apply only to advertising for alcoholic drinks; 11.8.3 contains relaxations for low alcohol drinks.)

2. The consultation closed in late September and 64 responses were received. All respondents, including those from the alcohol, advertising and TV industries, supported the overall objectives of the proposals. As far as the detail was concerned, however, the vast majority of reactions were polarised, with the industries holding one fairly similar set of views and all other respondents (including central, devolved and local government, consumer representatives and those concerned to prevent alcohol-related harm) largely supporting Ofcom"s proposals. For the sake of simplicity, therefore, this report generally amalgamates the responses of those who took those polarised positions.

Key points

3. Taking account of the comments received, Ofcom has made the following decisions relating to key issues:

• Wording throughout has been simplified and clarified where it was apparent that there was ambiguity or misunderstanding
• The rules about reducing the appeal of alcohol advertising to children and young teenagers have been more precisely focussed but Ofcom regards this objective as paramount and the full rigour of the consultation proposal has been retained despite industry objections
• The rules restricting sexual content and links in alcohol advertising have been strengthened compared to those which previously applied but Ofcom has concluded that it would be appropriate and harmless to allow more creative leeway in this area than the consultation proposed in order to facilitate the move away from advertising styles which will appeal strongly to younger viewers. So long as links to youth culture are avoided as the revised "sex" rules require, Ofcom"s view is that there is little potential for social harm in alcohol advertising being linked, in a grown-up way, to romance. The new rules will tone down the sexual content of some recent advertising but would still allow responsible treatments involving flirtation and romance between over-25s
• Most of the interpretative guidance notes have been removed from the rule-set to be published initially. Many industry respondents objected that the proposed notes were either vague and ambiguous or prescriptive and complicated. The proposed guidance has been removed on the clear understanding that, once day-to-day responsibility for the regulation of broadcast advertising is delegated to the Advertising Standards Authority and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) on 1 November 2004, it will be promptly redrafted by BCAP, taking account of Ofcom"s intentions as indicated during the consultation and as amended as a result of comments received. BCAP will then consult publicly on draft guidance notes but Ofcom will retain the right to final approval in order to ensure that the objectives of the revised rules will be achieved. This approach has been adopted so that the ASA, the alcohol and advertising industries and the BACC* will be applying guidance to which they have made a commitment and of which both they and Ofcom have a shared understanding
  [* The BACC is the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre - the TV advertising "pre-clearance" body which assesses compliance with Code rules before advertising is broadcast]
• The rules for TV scheduling and sponsorship, and for radio advertising, are unchanged

4. The new rules will come into force on 1 January 2005, and will apply to all advertising campaigns conceived after that date. However, Ofcom accepts that some advertisers are already filming commercials intended for summer 05 and has decided to allow a "grace period" until 30 September 05 for advertisers who will already have committed themselves to campaigns which may not comply with the revised rules. Some consultation respondents recommended a much shorter grace period but Ofcom has concluded that to require a shorter period would cause disproportionate commercial disruption given that the intention of these rule revisions is to assist wider society in efforts to change a harmful drinking culture, and such change will inevitably take a considerable time.

5. All non-confidential responses can be found on the site - see Related Items.

Notes:

• The sections below are laid out so that it is easy to compare (a) the current rule set with (b) the wording proposed in the consultation and with (c) the revised version now approved and published by Ofcom
• Significant changes from a previous iteration are marked bold
• Under each rule, or major part of a rule, there are comments explaining the significant changes from the consultation proposals

• Ofcom's decisions on revising alcohol advertising rules [pdf]
  PDF
• Final revised alcohol advertising rules [pdf]
  PDF

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