Page 303 - Law and the Media

Law and the Media
When all the available evidence and comments of the parties are gathered in, the
advertisement is assessed and an adjudication is made. An advertiser found to be in breach
of the Code will be asked to undertake not to repeat the breach and to amend or withdraw
the offending advertisement.

18.2.5 Sanctions

Following adjudication, the ASA may carry out the following to ensure that advertisements
that break the Code are amended or withdrawn:

Persuasion: the ASA first asks that the offending advertisement be withdrawn
Refusal of further advertising space: the ASA can ask publishers and media owners
to refuse more space for an advertisement until it has been changed
Adverse publicity: the ASA publishes the outcome of all adjudications weekly on
the web site, plus a regular hard copy summary
Withdrawal of trading privileges: trading privileges, financial discounts and other
incentives can be withdrawn
Legal proceedings: persistent offenders can be referred to the Office of Fair
Trading, which can seek an injunction through court proceedings.

Usually, it is not necessary for the ASA to take any action beyond informing the advertising
company that it has breached the Code. The majority of companies will withdraw their
advertisement from circulation in order to avoid damaging their reputation by circulating an
advertisement that is offensive or misleading, prejudicing their good name or losing clients’
money through the production of advertisements which cannot be used.

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