Charity Advertising

Advertising Codes

• Advertisers have to adhere to the ASA rules and regulations of advertising.

• The ASA sets strict rules for advertising in all media.

• The ASA have the power to ‘pull’ any advertisement of the television, radio or the press, if someone/company complains.

• The ASA will investigate the complaint and make a choice to agree or disagree with the complaint.

The ASA also covers

• How sales promotions are run – prize draws, competitions, free offers etc.

• How advertisers use your personal information to advertise to you – direct mail, e-mail and text messages.

• Making sure consumers get the mail order goods or refunds when ordering from newspapers and also promotional items.

• Making sure that TV commercials are scheduled at an appropriate time, i.e. away from kids shows or after the watershed.

Charity advertising

• An advert for charity is only classed as this if the advertisements are soliciting donations or promoting the needs and objects of UK bodies whose activities are financed wholly or mainly from donations may only be accepted from registered charities.

Advertisement rules• Advertisements for charities must:• a) handle with care and discretion matters likely to

arouse strong emotions in the audience;• b) not suggest that anyone will lack proper feeling or

fail in any responsibility through not supporting a charity;

• c) respect the dignity of those on whose behalf an appeal is being made;

• d) not address any fundraising message specifically to children;

• e) not contain comparisons with other charities;• f) avoid presenting an exaggerated impression of the

scale or nature of the social problem to which the work of the charity is addressed, eg. by illustrating the message with non-typical extreme examples;

• g) not misrepresent or mislead in any way about the charity, its field of activity or the use to which donations will be put.

Charity poster for childline and NSPCC