D1 (U20): Discuss the legal and ethical constraints within the planned campaign

Legal and Ethical Issues

Legal Issues

In advertising it is important to follow certain rules set by national regulatory bodies in order to avoid wasting time on non publishable material or in the worst case scenario becoming the target of legal proceedings such as a lawsuit, which can greatly damage a brands resources, reputation and profits. One of the regulatory bodies which handles the regulation of advertising across all media in the UK is the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

Copyright

The Weeknd's hit song Blinding Lights is protected by the copyright law

Juice WRLD at the red carpet

Copyright is a type of intellectual property which gives the owner the rights to make copies of  creative work which may be in a literacy, educational, artistic or musical form. Copyright issues occur when someone uses another individuals/organisations work and claims it as their own. Content such as music or video is usually protected by the copyright and infringement law. In my TV commercial I am planning to either use the song 'Blinding Lights' by the Weeknd or Smile by Juice WRLD since both of the artists have gained a large popularity amongst the youth and also their song's contain elements of nostalgic 80s elements from the synth pop and rock sounds at the time. In order to avoid getting legal action taken against me such as getting sued, I will ask the artists or their teams for permission. I am expecting that in order to gain the rights to the songs I will have to offer the individual or their team a satisfactory payment. 

Minors - Advertisers often use children to promote products even when it's is not specifically targeted at them. This is because children are considered a strong influence over the decisions made by parents. However, due to the fact that they are generally accepted as being the most susceptible target audience who often can't differentiate between fantasies and realities it is considered illegal to depict children in an ad combined with offensive or derogatory themes. Some of the harmful depictions which the ASA deems illegal include:

• Ads addressed or depicting children must not condone or encourage unsafe practices
• Ads must not portray or represent children in a sexual way
• Ads that are suitable for teenagers but could distress younger children must be sensitively scheduled
• Ads for age-restricted products like alcohol, gambling etc. must not be targeted at or likely to appeal to under-18s

Whilst advertising on certain platforms as a team we must make sure that our marketing material is child friendly and doesn't promote any form of child endangerment. If we include anything which promotes violence, sex, narcotics or any other type of inappropriate content within the adverts we face the problem of not being able to launch the adverts on certain TV channels, public locations and it will limit how many people our adverts can reach on social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter where the age limit is 13 years old. It will also completely block us out of video streaming platforms such as Twitch and YouTube which have very strict policies on non family-friendly content.

False/Misleading Advertising - According to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) no advertisement should contain misleading content due to reasons such as inaccuracy, ambiguity, exaggeration, omission or otherwise. Brands and marketers need to hold evidence in the form of documents proving that the product which they are advertising is 100% what they claim to be. In order to avoid this issue, we must make sure that we prepare all our documents which prove that our claims about the PhizzWizzard product such as being sugar free are in fact true and contain no misleading information. This is important as the lack of sugar in our product is one of our main USPs and we can't afford to mis-advertise the drink in any way, shape or form.

Privacy - Privacy has been an essential human right for centuries, thus most countries contain laws and regulations which restrict advertisers from invading the target consumer. Due to the rise of technology a lot of advertisers in the past have implemented quite forceful techniques to reach their user such as frequent spam e-mails or direct intrusive phone calls. Many of these criticised techniques have received significant backlash which has resulted in the enforcement of new laws. Other privacy regulations include:

• Brands can not send e-mails to consumers without receiving their permission first
• User data collected by organisations must be securely kept in the database
• Brands operating online must follow FTCs Fair Information Practice Principles which includes basic requirements such as notifying the user of the organisations proposed actions, allowing the user to choose whether he wants to use the service, give user access to their own data and keep data secure

In order to avoid privacy issues as a brand we must follow the Fair Information Practice Principles when operating online (e.g. on social media websites like Twitter), as well as make sure we ask the user for permission to send them e-mails as well as to engage in a phone call. At no point can we commit actions which can be considered intrusive and in the worst case harrasement.

Ethical issues

Offensive, Racist and Homophobic content - Whilst it is also a legal issue to portray certain groups in an derogatory and offensive manner some potentially offensive ads can still make their way through regulatory bodies and to the public eye. This is why it's important that advertisers include a minimal amount of themes which can be perceived as hurtful and insulting. This includes subject matter such as racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism or appealing to various vexing stereotypes. Some examples of what can be considered an offensive stereotype in a TV advert:

• An eastern European man being portrayed as a truck driver, alcoholic or thief
• Asians being portrayed as unable to drive a vehicle
• Members of the LGBT community being shown to be inferior or delusional
• People of African descent being pictured as criminals
• People of Arabic or Middle eastern descent rendered in a way which implies them as terrorists

The best way to avoid any ethical issues such as accusations of racism, homophobia, xenophobia etc. is to cast talent/models with a wide range of gender, ethnicity, religion or sexuality. This doesn't just avoid destroying but in fact improves the brands identity especially amongst the respected communities.

Heineken's 'Lighter is Better' advert received major backlash as the public claimed it 
to be racist towards African-Americans

Promoting unhealthy products - Promoting unhealthy products is seen as a big red flag in modern advertising, most often due to the large amount of attention and controversy it attracts from the public. If the physical product itself rather than the marketing campaign centred around it is considered controversial, it can create a bad brand reputation and a bad common belief about the product. Fizzy drinks, are often considered to be very unhealthy and have a bad effect on your teeth, which is often true. While the sweet taste appeals to younger audience, the unhealthy ingredients often drive adults away and parents from buying the drink for the kids. Fortunately, our product already has the features to avoid most of the issue, due to the fact it's is sugar free. Therefore by casting a spotlight on this unique selling point we can greatly reduce the risk of the product being associated with health issues and will improve our brand identity.