Advertising Standards Bureau Review of Operations 2016 2016 Review of operations_WEB | Page 12

CEO report
Fiona Jolly,
Chief Executive Officer
As custodians of the
complaints resolution half of
the advertising self-regulation
system, it is the role of the
Directors and staff of the
Advertising Standards Bureau
to ensure the complaints
system is operated in a
manner that meets the needs
of industry, the community and
government.
Those who are new to the ASB are always
surprised by the variety, complexity and volume
of work that is required behind the scenes. I will
mention just a few highlights.
One way of demonstrating our commitment
to meeting diverse stakeholder needs is to
ensure the system is operated according to
both international and Australian best practice
standards. Domestically, ASIC Regulatory
Guide 139, approval and oversight of external
dispute resolution schemes (ASIC RG 139)
provides important guidance from the Australian
Government for the operation of self-regulation
systems. Internationally, the advertising
self-regulation best practice guidance is well
accepted as being that set out in the EASA Best
Practice Recommendations.
Integral to best practice is that the self-regulation
system operates with full support of industry.
The complaints resolution half of the advertising
self-regulation system is fortunate to have
support of all sectors of the advertising industry
– advertisers themselves of course, but also very
significant contributions and support from
the media buying, creative, and media sectors.
Also integral to the success of the system are
the various industry bodies and of course the
organisations that form the other half of the
self-regulation system –the creators and keepers of
the industry Codes that the ASB administers.
Essential to both the domestic and international
standards for self-regulation, is effective
enforcement and compliance. During 2015 and
2016 the ASB continued to have concerns about
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a threat to our otherwise impressive compliance
rate posed from a very small number of businesses
advertising on their own premises who declined to
remove advertising and marketing material found
to be in breach of community standards as judged
by the Advertising Standards Board against the
Australian Association of National Advertisers
(AANA) Code of Ethics. We were very pleased
therefore to have had success in working with
the Queensland Government to have an effective
‘legislative backstop’ put into place (read more in
the achievements section). This initiative should
have our compliance rate back at world leading
rates in 2017.
Ensuring the community understands where
to take concerns about advertising is another
important best practice element. The ASB
made significant effort to raise awareness in
the community of its work through the use of
social media during 2017 (read more in the
achievements section). While more people in the
community interacted with the ASB – through
lodging complaints, or reading our social and
traditional media information – there appears still
to be some confusion regarding who and what
constitutes the various elements of the complaints
resolution part of the advertising self-regulation
system. In an effort to address this issue, we
are pleased that in late 2016 we made the first
steps in finding out exactly what our various
stakeholder groups think about the ASB and what
they need, and the results of this research will be
implemented in 2017 through more targeted and
on point information to each stakeholder group,
and we hope also through a refreshed look and
feel for the ASB.
Advertising Standards Bureau