Advertising Codes of Practice for Magazine

UK legal frameworks governing magazines

Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP)

As part of the media campaign for my advanced production film I will be creating a magazine front cover and website front page on which to advertise the film. As a result of advertising the material to the public there are certain rules that I must adhere to in order to be allowed on the shelves as is stated in the codes:

• ‘2.5 - Marketing communications must conform with the Code. Primary responsibility for observing the Code falls on marketers...’.

There are some basic principles of marketing which are reinforced numerous times throughout the codes of advertising as they are essentially in place to protect the consumer from being tricked into buying a product under false pretences. These codes include:

• ‘2.1 - All marketing communications should be legal, decent, honest and truthful.’
• ‘2.2 - All marketing communications should be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society.’
• 7.1 - No marketing communication should mislead, or be likely to mislead, by inaccuracy, ambiguity, exaggeration, omission or otherwise.
• 6.1 - Marketers should not exploit the credulity, lack of knowledge or inexperience of consumers.

In order to comply with these rules I will simply make sure that all the information I use within my advertisement is correct and will give the consumer an honest reflection of the film.

As my film is categorised within the thriller genre and as such there is scope for images or messages that may be deemed violent or generally pro-violence. As such the following code applies:

• 11.1 - Marketing communications should contain nothing that condones or is likely to provoke violence or anti-social behaviour.

In order to comply with this code I will make sure my images and messages do not in anyway condone violence and will not be likely to provoke through offensive material. The areas I will be dealing with are the pictures I use and the slogan for the film plus general advertisements for other films on the magazine.
Also related to the thriller genre issue is the next code:

• 9.1 - No marketing communication should cause fear or distress without good reason. Marketers should not use shocking claims or images merely to attract attention.

I will be looking to imply the idea of fear on the cover and website as this is the main premise behind thrillers and so I must be stringent in my methods with regards to this rule. However, regulating this should again be a fairly straightforward task as I must just make sure the images used on the front cover are not shocking or disturbing in anyway, and that the slogan is not of this ilk either.

The codes also talk of the use of material that could be deemed as offensive on a number of grounds as stated here:

• 5.1 - Marketing communications should contain nothing that is likely to cause serious or widespread offence. Particular care should be taken to avoid causing offence on the grounds of race, religion, sex, sexual orientation or disability. Compliance with the Code will be judged on the context, medium, audience, product and prevailing standards of decency.

• 5.2 - Marketing communications may be distasteful without necessarily conflicting with 5.1 above. Marketers are urged to consider public sensitivities before using potentially offensive material.

With my film being in the thriller genre there is probably more chance of breaking these rules than with other genres. In order to make sure this doesn’t happer I will keep particular note not to use any images or text which I deem could conflict with this code.

Rules that apply to the magazine but not the website

There are also some regulations which apply more generally to the front covers of magazines which although in normal terms I would not have to deal with as it’s not my magazine for the purposes of this exercise I will be designing the whole of the front cover which makes them relevant. Such codes are:

• ‘36.1 - Publishers announcing reader promotions on the front page or cover should ensure that consumers know whether they will be expected to buy subsequent editions of the publication. Major conditions that might reasonably influence consumers significantly in their decision to buy the publication should appear on the front page or cover.’

• ‘15.5 - A recommended retail price (RRP), or similar, used as a basis of comparison should be genuine; it should not differ significantly from the price at which the product is generally sold.’

I will be creating advertisements and possible sales promotions for my cover because of which code 36.1 is relevant and I will meet these rules by careful stating any conditions if any promotions are used. As for the price I will be able to easily comply by simply using the magazine’s standard RRP.

These are a few of the main rules which my magazine cover and website front page will have to comply with.