Principle
Broadcast advertisements for some products or services are not permitted either because those products may not legally be advertised or because of a clear potential for harm or serious or widespread offence to the audience or to society.
Background
There are other unacceptable and restricted categories of advertising not listed in this Section, which can be found in these sections: Political and Controversial Matters (Section 7); Children (Section 5); Medicines, Medical Devices, Treatments and Health (Section 11); Financial Products, Services and Investments (Section 14); Faith, Religion and Equivalent Systems of Belief (Section 15); Homeworking Schemes (Section 24); Instructional Courses (Section 25) and Pornography (Section 30).
10.1 Advertisements for products or services coming within the recognised character of or specifically concerned with these are not acceptable:
10.2 No ad may indirectly promote an unacceptable product or service. For example, advertisements must not refer the audience to a website or a publication if a significant part of that website or publication promotes a prohibited product or service.
Tobacco
The following rules do not apply to advertisements for products which are regulated by section 33.
10.3 Advertisements must not promote smoking or the use of tobacco products.
| CLEARCAST GUIDANCE Clearcast will normally reject any advertisements that show smoking, cigarettes or other tobacco products. Shots of smoking or smoking paraphernalia may be allowed in very limited circumstances, such as in health-related public service or smoking prevention advertisements. Incidental smoking images in clips from films made before the dangers of smoking were widely known may be acceptable. Any relaxation for film trailers is likely to apply only very rarely and relate to when the film was made, not the period in which it is set. |
10.4 If it shares a name, emblem or other feature with a tobacco product, a non-tobacco product or service may be advertised only if the ad is obviously directly targeted at an adult audience, makes or implies no reference to smoking or to a tobacco product, does not promote tobacco or smoking and does not include a design, colour, imagery, logo style or the like that might be associated in the audience’s mind with a tobacco product.
| CLEARCAST GUIDANCE Tobacco insignia and/or logos may be permissible in documentary footage or old film footage but this largely depends on context. Any reference to tobacco products should be incidental at best and not serve to actively endorse smoking. |
10.5 Advertisements that might be of particular interest to children or teenagers must not refer to tobacco or smoking, unless that reference obviously forms part of an anti-smoking or anti- drugs message.
| CLEARCAST GUIDANCE The ASA has ruled on this issue. The ruling can be found here. |
