BCAP rules

By Zak Knapper
COMPLIANCE with the rules
Advertisements must reflect the spirit, not merely the letter, of the
Code
Advertisements must be prepared with a sense of responsibility to
the audience and to society.
Advertisements must comply with the law and broadcasters must
make that a condition of acceptance.
Misleading Advertising
Advertisements must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
Advertisements must not mislead consumers by omitting material
information. They must not mislead by hiding material information or
presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely
manner. Material information is information that consumers need in
context to make informed decisions about whether or how to buy a
product or service. Whether the omission or presentation of material
information is likely to mislead consumers depends on the context,
the medium and, if the medium of the advertisement is constrained
by time or space, the measures that the advertiser takes to make that
information available to consumers by other means.
Harm and offence
Advertisements must contain nothing that could cause physical,
mental, moral or social harm to persons under the age of 18.
Advertisements must not cause serious or widespread offence against
generally accepted moral, social or cultural standards.
Advertisements must not exploit the special trust that persons under
the age of 18 place in parents, guardians, teachers or other persons.
Advertisements must not include material that is likely to condone or
encourage behaviour that prejudices health or safety.
Children
Advertisements that are suitable for older children but could distress
younger children must be sensitively scheduled
Advertisements must not condone, encourage or unreasonably
feature behaviour that could be dangerous for children to emulate.
Advertisements must not implicitly or explicitly discredit established
safety guidelines. Advertisements must not condone, encourage or
feature children going off alone or with strangers.
Advertisements must not condone or encourage practices that are
detrimental to childrens health.
Privacy
With limited exceptions, living persons must not be featured,
caricatured or referred to in advertisements without their permission.
Exceptions are made only for brief and incidental appearances, such
as crowd scenes, and advertisements that refer to a person featured
in publications, programmes, films and the like, providing that the
reference to or portrayal of that person is neither offensive nor
defamatory.
Weight control and slimming
If they are necessary for the assessment of claims, broadcasters must,
before the advertisement is broadcast, obtain generally accepted
scientific evidence and independent expert advice.
Advertisements must not encourage indiscriminate or excessive use
of a weight-control or slimming product or service.
Charities