Advertising standards authority

What exactly does asa do?

The Advertising Standards Authority is the UKs independent regulator of advertising across
all media. They apply the Advertising Codes, which are written by the Committees of
Advertising Practice. Our work includes acting on complaints and proactively checking the
media to take action against misleading, harmful or offensive advertisements.
How is the asa funded?
The ASA is funded by advertisers through an arms length arrangement that guarantees the
ASAs independence. Collected by the Advertising Standards Board of Finance (Asbof) and
the Broadcast Advertising Standards Board of Finance (Basbof), the 0.1% levy on the cost of
buying advertising space and the 0.2% levy on some direct mail ensures the ASA is
adequately funded to keep UK advertising standards high. They also receive a small income
from charging for some seminars and premium industry advice services. They receive no
Government funding and therefore our work is free to the tax payer.
How does regulation work?
As the UKs independent regulator for advertising across all media, our work includes acting
on complaints and proactively checking the media to take action against misleading, harmful
or offensive advertisements, sales promotions and direct marketing.

What sanctions can the asa impose?

If they have judged an ad to be in breach of the Codes, then the ad must be withdrawn or
amended. The vast majority of advertisers comply with the ASAs rulings and they act
quickly to amend or withdraw an ad that breaks the Codes. We have a range of effective
sanctions at our disposal to act against the few who do not and ensure they comply with the
rules.
How does self-regulation of non-broadcast advertising work?
There are many millions of non-broadcast ads published every year in the UK, so it would be
impossible to pre-clear every one of them. For example there are more than 30 million press
advertisements and 100 million pieces of direct marketing every year.
Barnardos complaint

Ad
A TV ad for Barnardo's showed a teenage girl who told how she ran away from home and
ended up taking drugs and being sexually exploited. She said "Then some people found me.

They were from Barnardo's". The ad then described how she had received medical help and
counselling and been able to return home.

Issue
A viewer challenged whether the ad was misleading and misrepresented Barnardo's role by
suggesting they acted as a child protection agency at the initial intervention stage in cases of
child abuse.
BCAP TV Code
5.1.15.1.2

Response
Barnardo's said the voice-over "Then some people found me. They were from Barnardo's"
referred to their voluntary outreach work and did not refer to or show them as a statutory
child protection agency at the initial intervention stage in cases of child abuse. They said
their outreach work included services that young people could visit to receive help and
support and night-time Street visits to locate young people at risk or being exploited. Their
visits targeted parks, bed and breakfasts, temporary accommodation and unsupported
houses which, in Barnardos's experience, were all places where vulnerable children and
young people in need of help were found. There were a number of such teams across the
UK and they followed local and national policies for child protection. In a case like the girl
featured in the ad, for instance, once they had found and talked to her, they would make an
immediate referral to child protection services and the police. They said this aspect of their
work had been widely publicized and was well known of by the public.
Clear cast endorsed Barnardos's response. They did not accept that the ad was capable of
misleading viewers. They considered Barnardo's would be very well recognized by viewers
as a charity that provided care and support for vulnerable children but which was not a child
protection agency. They said the story shown in the ad was typical of some of the work
Barnardo's carried out.

Assessment
Not upheld
The ASA noted that, unlike local authority social services departments, Barnardos's outreach
work did not take place in every area of the UK. We considered, however, that the story
shown in the ad was representative of Barnardos's outreach work in the areas where it did
take place. We considered the ad suggested that this was the kind of situation in which
Barnardo's worked but that it did not suggest that they acted as a child protection agency at
the initial intervention stage in cases of child abuse (in the place of social workers or police
officers, for instance). Because of that, we concluded that the ad was unlikely to mislead
viewers.

We investigated the ad under CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standard Code rules 5.1.1 and
5.1.2 (Misleading advertising) but did not find it in breach.

Action
No further action necessary.

Tesco compaint

Ad
A national press ad, for Tesco, stated "Finest Beef. Our butchers take their time. Carefully
selecting meat with marbling for tenderness and flavor. Well, you deserve the best cuts. Not
short cuts ... Tesco butchers are fussy when it comes to finest beef. For starters, they'll only
use meat from long established, family-run British farms". Footnoted text at the bottom of
the ad stated "Subject to availability. Selected UK stores".

Issue
Wm Morrison Supermarkets challenged whether:
1. The ad misleadingly implied that Tesco directly employed its own butchers;
2. The ad misleadingly implied that Tesco cut meat for customers in-store;
3. The claim "they'll only use meat from long established, family-run British farms" was
misleading and could be substantiated.
CAP Code (Edition 11)
3.17.17.2

Response
1. Tesco Stores (Tesco) said finest beef was sold in two ways: either pre-packed or cut to the
customers request from their stores meat counters. They explained that the beef was
selected and prepared for them by two suppliers, at sites which only provided meat for
Tesco, and by skilled butchers who only prepared meat for Tesco. They said the butchers
were trained to select and pack the meat according to strict Tesco Finest specifications; that
specification was not applied to other products. Tesco therefore believed, because the
butchers worked exclusively for them and to their specifications, that it was not misleading
to refer to them as Tesco butchers. They provided a copy of the specification for Tesco
Finest fillet steak, as featured in the ad.

2. Tesco said they had meat counters in 374 of their stores, where trained butchers
prepared meat to customers requests. They explained that the meat was usually delivered
to stores as primal cuts, which were basic sections of the beef, and then prepared into retail
cuts and joints.
3. Tesco said selected farms, approved by their meat suppliers, provided cattle for Tesco
Finest beef. They said all the farms were members of the Assured British Meat (ABM)
scheme, or their regional equivalent. Tesco explained that it took some years to establish a
beef herd and it was not until a farm was able to show it consistently met the ABM
requirements that it could be admitted to the scheme. They said research published by
Defra had shown that the average age of cattle and sheep farmers in the UK in 2007 was 58
years, with over 96 per cent over the age of 35 years, which Tesco believed demonstrated
that cattle farmers were generally in farming for some time. They provided the ASA with
documentation relating to all the farms that provided cattle to their suppliers, including the
names of the families who ran them, and information relating to how long those farms had
been established.

Assessment
1. Not upheld
The ASA noted Tesco used the services of two suppliers to provide their Finest Beef and that
butchers at those establishments worked to strict Tesco specifications when selecting the
meat, preparing and packing it. We also understood that the sites only supplied meat to
Tesco and, although employed directly by the suppliers, the butchers only worked on
selecting and preparing meat for the supermarket chain.
We therefore considered that, because the butchers were employed to work exclusively for
Tesco, the claims "Our butchers take their time. Carefully selecting meat ..." and "Tesco
butchers are fussy when it comes to finest beef" were unlikely to mislead consumers about
the selection and preparation process for Tesco Finest beef.
2. Not upheld
We understood that, in those stores with meat counters, in-store butchers would cut and
prepare Finest beef that was not already pre-packed, and they would also do so to customer
order. We noted footnoted text at the bottom of the ad stated "selected UK stores", and we
considered that it was made clear to customers that in-store butchers would not be
available in every Tesco store. We therefore concluded that, because Tesco did cut meat for
customers in-store, and because it was made clear that that service was available in
selected stores, the ad was not misleading on this point.
3. Not upheld
We noted that Morrisons were concerned that the claim was misleading because they
believed that meat for Tesco's Finest range was supplied by a third party, and that Tesco
could not therefore ascertain the origin of the meat selected for that range.

We understood that it took some years to establish a beef herd and noted from the
documentation provided by Tesco, which listed each farm that provided beef for their finest
range, that the vast majority of the farms had been providing cattle to their suppliers for
many years. We also noted from that documentation, as well as a number of signed
declarations from a selection of farms, that they were family-run concerns and for the most
part had been operating for decades. We therefore concluded that the claim "theyll only
use meat from long established, family-run British farms" would not mislead consumers
about the origins of the meat.
We investigated the ad under CAP Code (Edition 11) clauses 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 and
7.2 (Truthfulness), but did not find it in breach.

Action
No further action necessary.