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Code of practice (CAP)
What the code applies to?
The code of practice applies to posters, cinema, video, DVD and
Blu-ray advertisements, and
advertisements in non-broadcast electronic media, marketing
databases containing
consumers personal information, sales promotions in
non-broadcast media, advertorials,
Advertisements and other marketing communications by or from
companies
What are the central principles of the code?
The central principle for all marketing communications is that
they should be legal, decent,
Honest and truthful. All marketing communications should be
prepared with a sense of
Responsibility to consumers and society and should reflect the
spirit, not merely the letter,of the Code.
What are the basic rules of compliance for the code?
They include general rules that state advertising must be
responsible, must not mislead, or
offend and specific rules that cover advertising to children and
ads for specific sectors like
alcohol, gambling, motoring, health and financial products.
These are all the different sections of advertising which the
code covers.
- Preface- Scope of the code- Compliance- Recognition of
marketing communications- Misleading advertising- Harm and offense-
Children- Privacy- Political advertisements- Sale promotions-
Distance selling- Database practise- Environment claims- Medicines,
medical devices, health related and beauty products- Weight control
and slimming- Finance products- Food- Lotteries- Alcohol
8/13/2019 Task 12 Code of Practice
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- Motoring- Employment- Tabaco- How the system worksChildren
Principle
Care should be taken when featuring or addressing children in
marketing
communications.
Harm
Marketing communications addressed to, targeted directly at or
featuring children must
contain nothing that is likely to result in their physical,
mental or moral harm:
Misleading advertisements
The Code contains product-specific or audience-specific rules
that are intended to
protect consumers from misleading marketing communications. For
example, the
Children and Medicines sections of the Code contain rules that
apply, as well as the
general rules, to marketing communications that fall under those
sections.
Private
Principles
Individuals should be protected from unwarranted infringements
of privacy.
Rules
Marketers must not unfairly portray or refer to anyone in an
adverse or offensive way
unless that person has given the marketer written permission to
allow it.
Environmental claims
Background
Marketers should take account of Government guidance including
the Green Claims
Code published by DEFRA and BIS.
Rules
The basis of environmental claims must be clear. Unqualified
claims could mislead if
they omit significant information. The meaning of all terms used
in marketing
communications must be clear to consumers.
