Post 3: The ASA BCAP Code

I researched the BCAP code so I knew what I was allowed to show in my adverts and what I couldn't. I did this by going on the official ASA website and reading their guidelines on their sections of advertising food and adverts in general.

Do's and Don't's for advertising food

The ASA states that adverts can't be inappropriate; they cannot cause distress or contain anything that is likely to cause physical or metal harm, and they cannot encourage child obesity.  In addition to this, I found out that certain adverts cannot be on air before 9pm; they need to be aired post watershed.

There was a banned Skittle advert that didn't follow the BCAP code and was taken down due to it being too sexually inappropriate and associating distressing images with a children's sweet.

Research notes on ASA BCAP code

This research was beneficial to my project as I knew what I was allowed to feature in my adverts and what would be deemed inappropriate for my target audience. I found out about the more detailed aspects such as, adverts need to be socially responsible, i.e. they need to follow car safety rules, there can't be any video games featured that have certain age restrictions, and that no alcohol was to be in the advert. It helped to plan my adverts because it made me more cautious of what I could contain in my adverts and to make sure they wouldn't offend or distress any of my target audience.

Research sources:

ASA BCAP website

Ofcom website