Establishing new advertising self-regulatory schemes: A comparison of the UK and Australian approaches

Abstract

Advertising is the most visible element of modern marketing, and an important component of trading. It is also an activity often accused by its critics of being intrusive and pervasive. Such accusations are not easily refuted by a worldwide industry which spends billions of dollars each year reaching and persuading its target markets through daily bombardment of thousands of ads in most developed countries. When advertising does offend, mislead, or is untruthful, a structure needs to be in place in order to provide protection to all parties and, in most cases, a country's legal system is complemented by a self-regulatory scheme. Self-regulation is a common approach to controlling conduct or behaviour in society and, indeed, Australian advertisers have opted for this system of control for more than 60 years.